Escapism
by blonde97
Summary: Bella is a runaway, trying to escape from the horror of what is her life. When her life was taken over by a selfish war, everything fell into fate's hands. Nothing was certain…and the one who saved her was the one who could decide her destiny. Starts in the 1800's and jumps to current times.
1. Prologue

**DISCLAIMER: As much as I love Twilight, and as much as I want to, I hold no claim over any of Stephanie Meyer's characters or ingenious ideas. **

_It's never easy to be chosen, never easy to be called_

_Standing on the frontline when the bombs start to fall_

_I can see the heavens but I still hear the flames_

_Calling out my name…_

Who Am I Living For? – Katy Perry

Prologue

Sometimes people need to get away for the stresses and the frightening things that life throws at you. Sometimes you need to hide from the realities that you don't want to face, in the moment or at anytime in your life.

Life is something that everyone goes through, each person, at one time of another, faces the same sort of fears or obstacles in life.

Some of these obstacles are overcome easily, without much thought or effort. Some take time, patience and hard work. Some of the difficulties in life cannot be solved, or are not meant to. You are just supposed to recover and move on, avoiding or adapting to the new and, most of the time, unwanted change.

In a mortals life, most of the drastic changes involve puberty and growing from being cared for to moving out of home and becoming more independent in oneself. These things, whether male or female, are difficult, uncomfortable and lead to very distressing circumstances.

The troubles and obstacles for that of an immortal are much, much different.

Living forever holds its perks, being indestructible, powerful and unstoppable can hold a rush like no other and bring you an indescribable happiness that you can't describe.

Of course, there is a down side to this as well. Nothing good comes without something bad to stop it.

All bad guys have to have somebody to fight otherwise they would be normal people, like everyone that walks planet earth.

Immortals have the both, good and bad parts of them. The part of them that was once human or normal contains the good part. Most people call it the humane part.

The part that takes over once turned or affected by something that causes immortality is the bad part.

It takes over, changes you in a bad way. Possesses you to get what it wants. Takes over you to the point where you think you are too far gone to ever get back to the person you once were.

Makes you want to escape from the world as it has become for you. As it changes you, manipulates you into the person you never would have ever dreamed of being.

You become a nightmare inside your own mind and even if you are the good person inside, it is always there waiting for an opportunity to strike and to take over when you become weak and vulnerable.

Taking control of both sides of you take a long time and much practise. You can eventually merge both into one. You are a good but willing to the inevitable or dangerous if need be.

This is a very important part of being a Vampire.


	2. Chapter 1

**Hello and welcome to my second fanfiction story ever! I am fairly proud of this one but I never brag about my own work. **

**I don't do authors notes so when I do write something I would appreciate it if someone read it. This will be the longest Authors Note I write (except for maybe when I finish). I also do not ask for reviews at the end of every chapter but I would like one as often as possible. Concerns, questions, what you enjoyed and what you didn't, it is all welcome and also you are welcome to point out any spelling mistakes. Its okay they frustrate me too. If you think the plot does flow or anything else, don't hesitate to leave me a review or message. **

**I have only put this story under 'Bella' because I honestly haven't decided who she will end up with yet. You can try to convince me to put her with a particular someone and I will listen to your argument, but I will tell you now, that decision is still with me. **

**I will also try to make it as less corny and as unpredictable as possible. I don't write long chapters but I will try to update as often as possible as I can. I will decide that when I have chapters to update! **

**This story is rated T so I can be a little more creative with the language I use and because it is violent. I have not yet mastered the art of making people fight via words but I am currently working on it.**

**I don't like doing disclaimers for each chapter so this will be my last one.**

**DISCLAIMER: Despite how I feel or what happens, the good things in life never seem to happen to me, so like the rest of you, Twilight does not belong to me. I just like using the characters as puppets for my own stories. **

**I hope you enjoy the way my mind works and how it decides to show it to others. Chapter 1 is now here (YAY!)**

_I don't know what's right and what's real anymore_

_And I don't know how I'm meant to feel anymore_

_And when do you think it will all become clear?_

_'Cuz I'm being taken over by the Fear_

The Fear – Lily Allen

**Escapism - an inclination to retreat from unpleasant realities through diversion or fantasy…**

Chapter 1

_Houston TEXAS, 1885_

"Isabella? Can you come in here please?" My mother speaks softly from the other room, but her soft voice is still heard through the walls.

"Yes, mother, just a minute." I gently place my book on the table beside me, open on my page, grab my skirt to prevent tripping on it and slowly walk into my fathers study.

He sat behind the desk, with his hands clasped together sitting on the desk. My mother sat on one side of the desk, her hands fidgeting, pulling at the strings of her dress sleeves. Her eyes not meeting mine and I knew this wasn't a polite chat. Her restlessness and fathers seriousness only meant bad news. Unfortunately for me, this involved me as well.

"Isabella, please sit down." My father's mouth barely moved, his expression didn't change but at least mother shifted a little and looked up.

I sat obediently, not sure how I was supposed to react. I sat upright and stiff. I felt like a small animal, waiting to be pounced on.

"Isabella. We have some news that we need to talk about." My parents shared a knowing glance before turning their eyes to me.

"Today, Sir Henry Brown came here and expressed an interest in you," They shared another glance. "More specifically…your hand in marriage."

My jaw dropped, but before I could reply, my mother spoke.

"Henry is from a very wealthy family. He could provide for you, and offer you with a future and a family…" I interrupted her.

"You want me to marry _Henry?_ I don't even know who he is! I'm only nineteen! I'm too young to get married! I can't do this! You won't make me!" I stood up and was yelling at both of them.

"ENOUGH!" My father rarely raises his voice, but when he does, he is serious and not to mention scary.

"Sit back down, Isabella! Now!" He stood up as well and his eyes were daring me to disobey me. I sat down on the edge of my seat, still showing no sign that I will give in anytime soon.

"You will marry him. There will be no objections and no other arguments. You will go to your room and go to bed. It is late and you have a big day tomorrow, Sir Brown will be coming over tomorrow and you _will_ be delighted to see him and you _will_ marry him next month." He wasn't yelling but his voice was very final.

"Next month? _Next month?_ Are you serious? You can't expect…"

"Go to bed Isabella." Father was not asking this time and wasn't going to accept anything else from me.

Mother gave me an apologetic glance from across the room but didn't look like she was going to help me.

I walked up the winding staircase of our mansion. I didn't understand why I needed to marry him. We are the richest family in town, why do we need more money?

My bedroom was small, considering our massive house with more rooms than I could count. I sat on the end of my neatly made bed and looked around.

A rocking chair sat in the corner, where mother used to sit with me as a baby and as a child, reading stories. I had a few dresses hanging, I had one or two books sitting on my table, all battered and worn but other than that my own bedroom didn't even look like my own. Everything about it was neat and perfectly placed, free of dust.

The conversation that had passed just moments before came rushing through me and I began crying. At first it was a few tears but then I began sobbing and curling into a ball. The tears were coming in buckets now, my chest began to hurt and I started hiccupping as well.

How could this happen to me? Why did I deserve this? I know life is not fair, but this is just over doing it.

I didn't even know who Henry was. What if he was violent or possessive? Or used me or didn't care about me and left me out on my own?

With those thoughts hovering around my brain, I had made up my mind. I was going to run away.

Of course I had never run away before so I had no idea what I was doing. I grabbed my oldest and most comfortable dress and put it in a bag, followed by two of my books on my table, a writing journal and a blanket.

I squeezed slowly out my door, making sure that I didn't make a sound, and crept back down the stairs, avoiding the one that creaks.

The kitchens were empty; the cooks had already retired for the evening. I filled the rest of the bag with food. I then snuck into drawing room and broke into the family safe, emptying as much as I could. My parents would think they have been robbed but I wouldn't care. I hope I will be far away by then.

I walked slowly through the rest of the house, taking great care when I walked past father's study; there whispers could still be heard.

"…she'll be alright; she's a good girl…" They were still talking about me but I didn't care. I was beyond it all now.

The giant wooden doors were the only obstacle between me and my freedom now.

It took a while to open and close them without making a noise but I managed and once I was outside I felt freer that I ever had in my entire life. I knew I had nowhere to go but I decided that I would just walk and let my feet take me anywhere.

The sun had not completely disappeared, but it was nearly gone. I had to take precautions until I had the cover of night so I stuck to quieter roads and smaller alley ways. As darkness fell, there were still some people on the main streets so I continued my path down an alley that seemed to go forever.

About halfway down it I realised my mistake. I was in an alley that had no other exits except from where I came from or where I was going. All the backs of the buildings were lined up in perfect lines, no doors or windows nearby.

And the worst thing was…I had this nagging feeling that I was being watched; and followed.

I didn't look around, I just kept walking and prayed that nothing bad would happen but then again, I was completely accident and danger prone so it probably wasn't a likely thought.

I hitched my bag higher over my shoulder and bent my head to the ground. Not enough to be oblivious to my surroundings but low enough to not try and attract attention.

My footsteps became louder as I tried listening for other noises but none came. I slowly started to relax. I raised my head a little and let my guard down.

That was the second mistake I made that night.

I was almost at the end when I felt I wind pass over me. It was creepy and I felt goose bumps slowly creep over my arms and eventually to the rest of the body. The feeling of being stalked returned. I didn't dare to look behind me out of fear.

Another breeze passed over me half a minute after the first, but it came from the opposite direction.

I didn't care about not drawing attention to myself anymore and spun quickly, trying to find the source of the unwanted disturbance. I found nothing, though I wasn't expecting much. The alley looked as empty as it did when I walked down it.

Hesitantly, I continued, taking care as I put each foot forward, not making a sound.

I felt the hair on my neck stand up suddenly and I knew there was someone, or something standing behind me.

I froze in my tracks, not knowing what to do anymore; and slowly turned around.

In the shadows of the alley, standing straight and rigid was a person. It looked feminine, a woman, but fairly young. I could barely see the outline of her body. She looked skinny with long hair. But even if she stepped out of the shadows I doubted I would be able to see her properly anyway.

I turned fully to face her and as I did, she disappeared.

I felt the same breeze hit me the moment after I lost sight of her.

I spun around again.

There is no way anyone can run this fast, I thought, feeling like I was going insane.

Facing the opposite way as before, I saw her again, but this time she was closer. A lot closer.

She was standing only a few feet away, face expressionless, but like a predator, finally finding her prey. Half her face was still concealed by the shadows, but a faint moonlight showed me her perfect features of one side of her face.

Her skin looked unnaturally pale even in the moonlight and her features were perfectly proportioned, like she had been painted on a canvas. Everything else was unknown, the light was still too dark but there was something that I noticed and I realised, right then, this girl, this woman, was dangerous.

Her eyes were black as she stared into me. She looked up and down my body as though she was searching for something.

She took a deep breath in, which made me realise that she hadn't been breathing before. How can she not breathe?

She took another step closer; I could feel her breath in my face as she took another deep breath. Her face was still concealed but her eyes were piercing into mine like she had stabbed them.

She was now barely inches from me, when she spoke.

"Now don't you look delicious," She started to walk slowly around me, stalking me. "I think I have found a good one."

She wasn't talking to anyone, not me, so I remained quiet, holding onto my life as my heart thudded faster in my chest.

"Your all covered up though. I like…easy access."

And then she lunged. I tried to dodge her, but she had already ripped off the top half of my clothes, leaving me bare, cold and unnecessarily exposed. My head whipped around as she disappeared again.

She was a predator, but I wasn't sure what kind yet. Could she be here for pleasure purposes? Or was it something else?

I figured she would get the normal 'who are you,' 'what do you want' and 'why are you doing this' a lot, as she seemed to know what she was doing. So instead of asking the girl questions, I decided to run.

I didn't think of what I was doing at the time but I was always good at hiding, escaping, and I hoped that, even with her inhuman speeds and strength that I noticed as she ripped my clothes off, there might be small chance I could get away.

I'll admit my hopes were up pretty high.

I started running, trying vaguely to cover myself. I didn't get far before I felt a slap across my face, literally sending me flying.

I thudded into the wall of the alley and fell down, flinging my arms out to try and break the fall. As I landed, my arm collapsed from under me and I almost heard a faint snap as I fell.

I looked down and immediately knew my arm was broken. I was the clumsiest person in existence and of course I broke something just as I needed both arms from my probable death.

"My, my, my, well aren't you a fighter. Good, I like hunting my prey."

She lunged at me again, but this time I was ready.

As I saw her disappear again I started moving, running left and right as fast as I could, but also trying to keep my eyes on the blur that was now surrounding me.

I wasn't as fast as the impossible speeds in front of me and I wasn't expecting to last much longer, so as I felt her kick me in the back, I knew that this was it.

"I am surprised by your courage and persistence; or should I call it stupidity? You should know you never had a chance against me."

She stalked towards me slowly as I lay on the ground, my left arm and my right leg were broken, a deep gash lay across my stomach, bleeding like there was no tomorrow.

She walked up until she was standing over me and put her foot on my chest. She slowly started applying pressure as she leaned down.

"It was a waste of your energy. Have you ever wondered what would happen when you died?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Well, now you can find out."

She bared her teeth and I could swear that her teeth were pointier and sharper than normal people, with the same speed as she did everything else, I was forcefully snatched from the floor and before I could register anything else, I felt her bite down on my neck and roughly suck from the open area. I think I realised what she was and I started struggling as hard as I could, even though all my strength was being drained as I tried.

She eventually dropped me.

"Who are you? How can you still fight me?" She sat down a few feet away as I crashed away. She turned her head so she could look at me properly. If it was even possible, she looked more terrifying than before, blood dripped down each side of her mouth and her eyes had turned from black to red in an instant. Red was a strange colour for eyes as it is but her were nothing else but a blood red.

I tried to get up again, It wasn't really working, everything hurts and neither my arms nor legs were co-operating with me, but it didn't stop me from trying to get away from this possessed chick.

"You truly are one of a kind. You seriously have no blood left, everything broken and more bruises to count, but you are still resisting me?" She seemed to ponder her words for a moment.

She got back up and pulled me up, almost like I was standing, yet she was holding all my weight.

"My venom is already in your system, I will take you back to camp; Peter might able to assess you better."

I had no idea what she was talking about. What camp? And who is this Peter?

"What are you?" My voice was raspy and weak but had to know.

"Haven't you figured it out yet? I thought you were a smart girl, I think I gave it away enough don't you think?"

She didn't say anything else. She slung me over her shoulder as I began to feel a burning, like lead hot steel was pressing in my skin, but I didn't cry out yet.

"Please…I need to know…" I whispered, desperate now. The pain was spreading and I could feel myself losing consciousness from lack of blood.

"Okay fine." She started running, everything was blurry and if I was in normal condition I would have been violently ill.

"I am a deadly, violent, dangerous, possessive immortal being.

"I am someone to fear and to never pick a fight with if you want to stay alive.

"I am a Vampire."

We continued running through the city and continued out into the unknown beyond as I slowly sunk into unconsciousness.

I am now in the arms of the, probably, most dangerous creature on earth. By the sounds of it, and their venom is flowing through my veins, I am going to become one too.

I, Isabella Marie Kingsley, am now a Vampire.


	3. Chapter 2

_When I woke up alone I had everything_

_A handful of moments, I wished I could change_

Therapy – All Time Low

Chapter 2

I regained consciousness after what seemed like a century. I didn't open my eyes yet, but I could tell I was awake as I could now think without the will to scream.

What happened?

The last thing I can remember was being carried by the girl and then blacking out. After that there was only pain.

The pain! That was the most horrific thing I have ever experienced in my whole life, but am I even still alive? I couldn't possibly be alive after that could I? The only thing I could describe it as was fire. Starting on my insides and slowly making its way out, making sure to demolish every part of me.

I heard a small rustling somewhere near me, by my feet. I could tell whatever, or whoever was trying to not be noticed.

I didn't open my eyes. I was still trying to connect the events that appeared fuzzy in my mind.

I remember a girl. Stalking, hunting me. She seemed young and delicate; like any child would.

But behind those memories I also remember her face as she pounced at me. Her eyes were an unnatural black, like her pupils were dilated, her teeth bared and sharp, crouching like a lioness.

She made no sound, other than the thudding of my body on the ground; I have no recollection of any noise in the whole attack. Other than her occasional thinking out loud and me asking questions, everything was silent.

Vampires…there was something about vampires.

I remember the girl saying: _I am a deadly, violent, dangerous, possessive immortal being. I am someone to fear and to never pick a fight with if you want to stay alive. I am a Vampire._

It sure was creepy but could it actually be true?

She talked more of venom as she carried me, and a man called Peter. Who was he? What is this venom? It's not the normal snake bite thing obviously.

Did vampires have venom in them? Maybe that was the stuff that could change people into one of them?

More questions for my ever-so-long list.

I remember feeling weak, like I was empty and hollow. If the girl really was a vampire it would make sense. She did bite me and try to drain my body completely of blood.

I racked my brain but found everything coming up fuzzy. The memories of my childhood were gone. I can only remember one day clearer than the rest. The day I ran away.

Other than the feeling of being free and then the feeling quickly changing to feeling doomed, the only thing else that I remember it the burning, the fire that filled me from the tips of my toes to my struggling brain as it tries to fight it all at once.

Why did I this happen to me? Oh, right. I ran away from the traditions and hopes of my family all because I wanted something ridiculous like love.

All my parents wanted for me was to get married and have a good and fulfilling life. Was that so hard to accept?

Of course it is you idiot, I said to myself. You want a choice and you don't even know who the hell this Henry _is_! He sounds like some creepy guy who thinks I would look good next to him when attending parties. I am so stupid!

But married! Seriously, I was barely nineteen. Well, I would be twenty in a few months but that is beside the point! I hadn't seen anywhere else of the world other than the small walls around my home town and a small amount of the country surrounding it but that was all.

I needed to live before I could give up like this. I mentally slapped myself. Why did I go down that stupid alley? I could have just walked down the main street and told people I was going to the market or something. I am smarter than this!

Well, obviously not.

Well, everything has changed now. I don't even know where I am, or if I am even alive! That I think is the first thing I needed to find out when I eventually figured how to move again.

Something moved by my feet again as I felt the pain completely disappear, the nagging feeling in my brain increased as I felt my heart start to fail in chest.

Thud, thud…Thud, thud…..

Was I dead? My heart stopped beating but how am I still talking to myself?

I heard another sound somewhere close to my body and I knew that whatever happened to me would be a permanent and drastic change in my life.

I wanted to get away, but now it seemed there is no going back.


	4. Chapter 3

**I thought since I added such a short chapter last week I should write a bit faster for you all, so here is another chapter! Hope you enjoy!**

_And right now there's a steel knife in my windpipe_

_I can't breathe but I can still fight_

Love the Way You Lie – Eminem ft. Rihanna

Chapter 3

My ears seem to be enhanced so much that I could almost see the room I was in. I could hear voices that were slowly coming closer. My brain seemed to take awhile to catch up with the rest of my body. The footsteps were soft and very even on the floor. There seemed to be more than one. I heard a door creak open, the feet shuffling inside quickly.

I heard nothing more, but could feel their presence close to me. It seemed instinctual that I knew they were there.

My senses seemed to be intensified. I could already tell my hearing was ten times better. Everything else I wasn't sure about.

I had just been close to death, or at least it felt like it. It had to be something along those lines. No one, at least no human, could ever survive burning like that; something that ate you from the inside out.

I heard more noises as they came closer to me.

I felt like I was on a flat and soft surface. Comfortable like a bed, I presumed. I was lying flat on my back, feet together with my arms by my side. Almost like that stiff soldier position but horizontal.

I could physically feel my brain start to wake up. Things switching on and fuzzy images started to appear in my head. Going to school, my parents, running away…everything up to the horrifying red eyes that attacked me, were flying through my mind. I suppose it could be described as the moment when your life is supposed to flash before your eyes right before you die.

"Is she awake?" The noise was so loud, I thought that I had hearing problems at first but then I realised that it was my hearing that made it so intensified.

The voice seemed familiar, female. I would think of its owner eventually.

"Nearly, her curiosity and confusion has picked up a great deal. The pain is almost completely gone." A deep voice, like it dripped honey, filled the air this time.

"Good, good," I heard clicking of what seemed like a tongue that followed. "She was a fighter, you know. Wouldn't give up even with my fangs in her neck and I was draining her of blood. She will be useful."

"Let's hope so. We already have more than enough newborns. They are hard enough to control without a newcomer who looks as though she will be a rebel."

"Major, you will train her. You are my best. She needs to be perfection. She has the determination so she just needs the skills now. You can give that to her."

"Yes Ma'am."

"Good."

Feet were shuffling away from me now and I heard the door shut softly but cautiously.

"I know you are awake, you can stop pretending. You can't lie to an empath."

What the hell? An empath? This just gets weirder and weirder.

But I wasn't stupid, but I should move soon though; I had no idea what I was doing.

I heard a sigh.

"You know. People like me aren't repulsed by hurting women. Unless they are family, they are treated as equals and if one doesn't obey, they are fit to be punished just like other men."

I knew when he meant _punish_, it wasn't going to be pretty.

I may not have been a genius but I knew that moving was now or never at the moment.

"Okay then. You will learn soon enough…you aren't as indestructible as you think, or wish to be."

I heard the 'Major' approach wherever I was laying and I had nothing to do but to react.

His arm was close to my leg, enough for my instincts to kick in in a split second.

My eyes flew open and everything was clear. I could see every speck of dust in the air, the light above me was blinding, and my eyes were burning from looking at it.

Many thoughts were flashing through my brain at once, _I can see the paint on the roof flaking off, the dust is spinning is circles; I can hear horses grazing somewhere_…there were so many thoughts going but the main one was

_Protect yourself_…

Just as soon as I opened my eyes, my mind immediately caught up with me. I could only see the shadow of the man, but he was too close for it to be confortable.

I had no idea what I as doing but I rushed to my feet at inhuman speed, but at the same time I could see every dust particle fly past my face.

The bed was only a single, and a very small one at that. Other than that the room only held a tiny table on the opposite side of the room, behind the man that had come too close to me. And I just had to say, that he is the most attractive person I had ever met.

It would be very improper for me to say that he was hot and then whistle, but I seriously felt like doing it.

He had longish, but a good length, of wavy honey-blond hair, an awesome body by the looks of it, but the only bad thing I could pick from just looking at him was his blood red eyes. Creepy, but yet somehow familiar.

"Well, that's better. At least now you are moving." His voice was amazing, if I don't mind saying so, with a very southern accent. He seemed to look me up and down, judging me by how I looked and moved.

"Nice and graceful, fast with excellent agility and young but still intelligent. My, my we seem to have a perfect soldier. A female soldier too; can't get much better than that. Our enemies will have no idea what hit them."

He was talking to me like I was a puppet, almost like a piece of meat more than an actual person.

I realised I was standing upright and I felt very vulnerable so I immediately got into a crouch. Everything else that happened after that was pure instinct; I had no idea what I was capable of.

In my crouched position, I bared my teeth as threatening as possible, letting out a loud hiss. I noticed a window behind me and I immediately jumped through it and ran off, as fast as I can. Which considering the fact that I fell out the window, it wasn't very fast to begin with.

If I was still human, everything would have been a blur but with my new eyesight, I could see every tree going past, every branch and every leaf.

Running seemed so natural.

I realised that I was in what looked like a camp site. Not very sturdy looking cabins, a few dozen, were spread out in what appeared like a clearing in the middle of a forest.

The forest in question wasn't too dense. It mainly consisted of tall trees with thick trunks and small shrubbery around the base.

I heard a small thump behind me, and I turned to notice that the Major had landed behind me. He followed me through the window of the cabin closest to the edge of the clearing. I presumed it was the one I woke up in.

The Major landed much more gracefully than I did; evenly on both legs.

His eyes met mine. Stone black emotionless. And for a moment I was _scared _of him. The only thing I could compare him to was a dashing villain or a handsome devil. Oh the irony in that. The one I wanted was always the bad guy.

_Did I just say I wanted him?_ Do I?

He started moving and I immediately stopped thinking. I had bigger issues at the moment. Issues that could be life threatening if you took the way he was standing into account.

"No one runs away from me without being punished." His golden southern accent now gave me the creeps. But it seemed I could no longer get Goosebumps.

"What would my punishment be then?" What? My voice seriously sounded like bells.

I dared him with my tone, but the bells didn't seem to pull it off as much as I hoped.

"No one answers back without being punished either."

"You didn't answer my first question!" I challenged him again.

He smirked at me, and I knew I was in trouble.

I could barely register him pouncing until I felt him collide with me. I then realised he wanted to pick a fight with me. I didn't know how to fight but I knew that somehow my body did.

The next time he crouched I was ready.

He pounced again and I quickly dodged out of the way with just a split second to spare. I turned around and faced him. Ready to take any blow he threw my way.

We both leaped at the same time, barely avoiding the other from injury. I had no idea how I would get injured, even my skin felt different now.

At the moment, I felt like I knew this fight was going to end. I knew that if I stayed any longer that I would most likely die, or at least suffer the 'punishment' mentioned earlier.

"You know, for a newborn, who has no training, just woken up and hasn't fed yet, you aren't the bad fighter. A natural if I don't say do myself. But then again, I am the judge of things around here." He leaned back into a crouch.

Before he could pounce again I ran off as fast as I could into the forest. I had no idea where I was going but as far away from that camp seemed like a good place to start.

As soon as I could hear another pair of feet following me, I knew that it was stupid to ever think I could get away. This guy seemed like he had been trained to do this very thing.

I knew that it would do not good to keep running as a shadow stopped in front of me.

Of course I had no doubt of who it was. I didn't know the Major that well but from what I did know, he would never let me escape, no matter what the cost.

I didn't want to let him take me, or do whatever he had planned. I would stop at nothing until I was free.

I didn't slow down. I ran full speed at the figure until I ran into him full force. We both started struggling with the other.

Blows were thrown and received. I threw a punch at his face which he easily dodged and returned a jab to my side which barely missed as I jumped away.

He grabbed my waist as I went to run again and spun me, trying to still my movements but I head-butted him as hard as I could and slipped out of his grasp.

I started to run again, making my movements unpredictable and changing directions a lot.

I came to a halt as soon as the pain hit me.

It was similar to the burning I felt when I woke up, except it was sorely focussed on my brain.

I reached for my head and fell on my knees screaming.

"Drastic times, call for drastic measures." I heard a female voice say as I tried to get rid of the pain.

The Major came up to me and pulled me up by the neck, like someone would a cat. I was still screaming in pain, I felt as though I would pass out but it just wasn't happening.

The female's voice was the one who talked to the Major when I woke up. She must be in charge here, calling all the shots, with Major her second in command, probably the real leader.

"I was going perfectly fine on my own!" The Major snapped at the female.

"Well, obviously not! What do you call this; you are nearly at the village, imagine what would happen if she lost control? You already can't handle her!" She was really mad now. I knew she was someone you would never pick a fight with.

I saw another person come into view. A male, looked young. Not much older than me, almost younger, except his body which looked older than the face.

The Major hasn't let go of me yet and I was still shaking from pain.

"Thankyou Harry, you may stop now." The girl told the boy, Harry. He looked over at me and immediately I felt myself relax, the pain gone.

"Asshole," I muttered under my breath. I knew it was a stupid decision on my part.

He hit me with another dose of pain. I struggled again, unable to escape the Majors grip.

"ENOUGH!" She screamed at him. "Watch your mouth girl. If you weren't so difficult you would already be dead!" She turned to me, her eyes were black. Her teeth over her gums looked unnaturally long, sharp. Almost reminded me of…no, impossible, vampires were a myth.

"Listen here, girl. You are alive for one reason and one reason only. You are an annoying little pest that gets in everyone's way and causes more trouble than you solve. I don't have the time to deal with creatures like you, and that is the reason why you are still alive. Sort of.

"You obviously have no idea what is going on. I will be patient with you for once and once only. You did suffer a large head trauma right before the change. My fault of course but you weren't co-operating.

"You are now a Vampire. No, they don't only live in stories your parents told you to go to sleep at night; they really exist, just a little different to the stories. Basically, all your senses are heightened. You are faster and stronger than you could ever imagine. Your skin is deathly pale and solid as stone. You need to stay out of the sun; in it you sparkle, giving us away. You are technically dead; your heart no longer beats. You don't need to breathe and guess what; your diet now consists of blood. That burning in your throat right now? That's called thirst; it makes you more dangerous to humans and it won't go away until you feed." I didn't notice it until now, but she was right and it was so distracting. I could understand why I might be dangerous.

"Any other questions, ask Major here, he is your trainer from now on. Being a vampire has costs. Our wars are similar to your wars but a lot quicker and there aren't as many soldiers. We fight for blood, literally. We take control of a city, the larger the better. My treasure was taken from me and I will not lose this war because you are incapable."

She nodded towards the Major respectfully and left abruptly, dragging the Harry behind her.

"I will give you a tip right out. Never, and I seriously mean never, get in her way." He turned me to face him, "I am stuck with you until you learn to control yourself, which will probably be never, but if you do get in _my _way, I won't hesitate to end you. All my soldiers are disposable; you need to get that in your head." His eyes were black too, but only when he was mad. They quickly changed to red when he calmed down a bit.

His grip was so strong around my arms I started to whimper unconsciously. He growled at me before starting to run back to camp.

"We start training immediately; you need to learn to fight. How to defend yourself, how to kill someone who is indestructible and how to not end up outnumbered."

He was literally dragging me by my neck now and I whimpered again. He turned to face me and sniggered.

"Lesson number one; feel no pain."


	5. Chapter 4

**Hey guys, sorry for the wait! I really enjoyed writing this chapter so I hope you all enjoy reading it! **

**I love reading your reviews, they make my day! **

_I didn't mean to end his life_

_I know it wasn't right_

_I can't even sleep at night_

_Can't get it off my mind_

_I need to get out of sight_

Man Down - Rihanna

Chapter 4

I was thrown against the barn wall at such a force, the brick started to moan a bit. I gasped. I was still not used to being so strong and not needing air to breathe.

"Again." I heard his speak softly.

"Please…just for a few minutes…can we please stop." I was on my knees in the hay, puffing and panting uselessly, though I didn't need air.

"No! You need to learn to keep going no matter how much pain, or how many limbs you have left or how much blood you have left in your system. You could want to crawl on the ground and cry but I will kick those thoughts out of your head. Now, again!"

I quickly got up again before he attacked.

For the last thirteen hours, the Major and I had been literally locked inside this barn until I could at least punch him in the face. He tried to teach me manoeuvres, dodging techniques and how to catch a vampire by surprise (which was actually really hard considering all our heightened senses). He wouldn't stop at anything until he taught me something so I could survive at least five minutes in a battle. I knew that I was only needed to stand there, I wasn't technically needed in the war, but I had to learn at least self-defence for my sake. Other vampires wouldn't hesitate to end my tortured eternal life.

Major crouched, very predatorily and started to circle around the room. I tried hard to match his steps. I crouched low, I know it didn't look anything like his but it felt comfortable. It seemed like I could do anything in this stance. It was only until the Major jumped at me and sent me across the room again.

I was pissed now. He hadn't let me feed since I was turned. I had heard that a newborn without blood in its system was dangerous, but worse, it made me feel weak. I was crouching on the floor, angry now.

I looked up at him and bared my teeth. I could feel them grow pointy against my lips. I could feel the venom gather in my mouth. I had learned that it was how I was changed. It weakens its victims and is the only thing that can scar a vampire. The Major had many bites up and down his arms, battle scars.

I hissed at him. I couldn't put up with this anymore. I ran towards him and tried to grab at his neck, but was thrown back again. I quickly recovered and leaped again. I managed to grab hold of some part of his body and I pulled it and threw him across the room.

We both hissed at each other again. We pounced at exactly the same time. We collided in mid-air which let off a massive bang. It reminded me of the sound of thunder when I was human.

We both tried to grab at the other and were thrown back again. Annoyed, we both ran at each other and started throwing punches.

I ducked, dodged, weaved and returned every blow until we were both thrown back again; this time by another vampire.

"Whoa there, break it up ladies, no need to fight." He was another southern, male vampire. I was wary at first but he sounded nicer than the other three vampires I had met so far. But that didn't mean that I could trust him.

"Good Evening, Captain. It seems you have met our newest edition to our army." I growled, animalistic and the Major straightened up and shot me a glare.

"Well, no…not out newest member, but I haven't met you…?" He looked at me questioningly.

He was talking to me.

"Er…Isabella." I straightened as well, but not as tall and proud as the Major but I tried still, to stay confident and ready.

"Isabella. That's quite a mouthful. How 'bout we shorten it a bit. Like a nickname?"

I shrugged. I really didn't care. I was being kept prisoner, they could do anything and my opinion wouldn't matter.

"Isabella…" He muttered again. "How 'bout Izzy? Nice and short, easy to remember." He asked me.

"Yeah, okay." I replied quietly.

"Well, nice to meet you Izzy, and by the way, she is not our newest member. The blonde woke up today." That seemed to mean something to Major it seems as I watched him walked off. Just as he left he said to the Captain, "Take her hunting."

I wasn't sure about this but I presumed it meant food, or now blood in my case.

"Okay, Izzy. I presume that with Major as your first trainer, you haven't fed yet, have you?"

I shook my head.

"Yes, he is the one to starve his new recruits until they are crawling on the floor begging for blood, then he would literally force you to drink some random person by shoving someone's throat near your nose to make you thirsty until you cant take it anymore and have to feed."

I looked at him, horrified. He seemed to realise that it was too early to scare me by telling horrible stories of an already evil trainer. I was now completely worried for my sanity. I would be the first ever insane vampire.

"Come on. Oh, I'm Peter by the way. But don't use my name in front of the Major or Maria. They will get really mad. It's too nice, normal for Maria and Major is her puppet, he just doesn't know it yet."

Peter grabbed me and started running out of the barn and through the forest. After a while he let go of my arm when he was certain I would follow.

I was still freaking out a bit as we ran. I had no idea what I was doing or how to survive more than a few months in this place.

Peter seemed to sense my concern and turned to me before he kept on running.

"It will be alright you know. I'm not a psychic but I know when things will turn out okay."

I gave him a funny look; he seemed to understand I had no idea what he was saying.

"You haven't had much of an explanation on vampires have you?" He asked. I shook my head in response. "We, as creatures, are very complicated. Everything you will learn over time with experience. I can, however tell you about gifts."

"Gifts?"

"Gifts are special abilities given to each individual vampire. Some are lucky enough to have them. No one knows why we get them, or how they are decided but a few lucky ones are able to receive and control them. The Major has one. It isn't a big secret either so I hope he won't mind me telling you. He is an empath. He actually has one of the most basic gifts to understand. He can feel what each individual is feeling and control and manipulate the feelings of individuals or large groups. That's why he is so good with newborns. If they get too aggressive, he just calms them down. It can get bad though but I won't share that.

"Some people say I have a gift, I just believe its instinct. It's a feeling I get and I just know that something will be okay or that something bad will happen. It's good with fighting, no one ever surprises you." He turned to grin at me again.

"So…how do you know you have a gift?" I asked. I can't deny that it would be cool to have some sort of superpower.

"You don't really. It just sort of hits you. The Major thought he was going mad when his gift first showed itself."

"It shows itself?"

"Sometimes they don't appear straight away from the change."

"Oh…"

"Yeah. Some vampire's gift is to see others gifts. We used to have one in our army but she died in the last fight. It was such a shame. She was so useful." He sighed and shook his head.

He came to a sudden halt. "We are here. Barely a few miles that way," pointing straight ahead, "there is a city. We normally feed from there. Maria picks anyone, like you. Don't worry this isn't your home town; I wouldn't do that to you. I know how it hurts."

I gave him a grateful smile.

"I normally wait around for some bastard to attempt rape some chick and then drain the rapist and make sure the girl is okay, you can check out a hospital, put some people who are never going to heal out of their misery, so I don't feel like I am a complete monster, but you can do what you want. It's just easier for me…" He trailed off. I understood. It was easier to feed on the criminals so you didn't kill the innocents. Instead of taking a life, you felt that you were saving one.

"Okay, hunting. It's actually really easy but I can't actually teach you how to do it. Your instincts will tell you. And don't worry if you make a mess, I can help you clean up if it's really bad. If you are not here in an hour and a half, I will come and find you." Translation: running away is pointless. We will find you! "And other than that, as vampires, we only have one rule. Keep the secret. So don't tell anyone. It's actually really easy to keep unless it's in the middle of the day."

I remembered that we sparkle in the sun.

"So, have fun I suppose. I'm hunting too so I will see you soon."

He then disappeared down the nearest alley. He was running fast enough that no human eyes could see him.

I gathered my thoughts and followed him down the alley. I didn't run but I walked slowly, savouring my few moments of freedom.

I didn't want to hunt. I didn't want to end someone's life, criminal, sick or not. It just didn't seem right. I walked down the alley until I got to a bigger road. It was barely sunset, the sun was down but there were still people out and about.

There was a market near which I went to go explore. I was wearing a plain white dress, similar to Maria's and I wanted nothing to do with her. I would steal something if I needed to. And it wasn't as hard as I thought to be around people, I was relieved.

I browsed through the dresses but they all seemed too formal for my purpose. So, taking a deep breath and gaining my courage I walked over to a stand where the men's clothing were shown.

I tried to hide myself from the judgemental prying eyes, but I knew it would never work. A woman could never get away with something like this.

I tried to gather my courage and ignored the stares and browsed through the small collection of clothes.

There wasn't much option there; at least that was small enough to fit me in all the necessary areas that were different to a man.

I ended up choosing a pair of black pants. They were a few sizes too small than intended so they hugged my body closely, but I was still able to move easily. I also chose a blue-greyish shirt that I could tie up or tuck in if necessary.

_And don't worry if you make a mess, I can help you clean up if it's really bad. _Remembering Peter's words I decided it would be better to hunt in my dress and then get changed when I understood the limits of the 'mess' that followed.

I looked around for the store manager but I found none in sight, and people where no longer watching me.

With no money, I realised I only had one choice. For the first time in my life I was going to steal. I hid the clothes between my legs, under my dress and, trying to look as indifferent as possible, I left the area.

It was harder than I thought to walk with interference between my legs. Well, hard to walk without others thinking that there was something wrong with me. But I managed. I was sure this would be easier than anything I would be doing over the next couple of months.

When I was out of sight from all people I took the clothes out from between my legs. Peter said something about cleaning up, hunting must be dirty work.

After a short contemplation, I hid my new clothes in an alley and went off to find something, or someone, that might help my sore throat. After a day of being denied, I was so thirsty it was ridiculous.

I had never been a violent or a mean person in my life. Despite people's reputation's I always gave them their own chance to make an impression on me. Most of them were right, but I wanted to know anyway.

I wandered around. There weren't many people out now, the street lamps were now turned on, and I was starting to wonder where or who I could eat.

I didn't have to think for long.

A man, who appeared very drunk of just an ordinary night, came wondering into the street. He was swaying a bit, his body and his brain far away from him.

I quickly ran into the shadows, too fast for his human eyes, even if he wasn't so drunk.

I waited patiently until my target passed my hiding place and started to silently follow him. He was too drunk to move fast so it was easy enough to catch up again, moving silently and carefully.

He stopped to lean against the wall at the end of the street and I took my chance.

Slowly walking over to him, I put myself squarely behind him and started to remove his jacket. The stranger was too drunk to understand what was happening to him until it was too late.

I turned him around quickly for easy access and moved his head so I had full access to his neck. Very carefully, I brushed them along his skin, near his jugular. I felt my teeth grow slightly sharper as I smelt his delicious scented blood.

I slowly pierced his skin and bit him slowly, testing the taste. Finally giving into to my senses and instincts, I started sucking, slowly at first, but then draining his body.

I released his neck when I couldn't drink anymore and laid it on the ground.

It took several minutes before I came back to my body. I looked down at my body I saw blood stains across the front of my dress, and I was unable to recall where they came from.

I looked at the man in front of me closely, and I noticed that he wasn't a particularly poor man, but he was able to provide for himself.

After closer inspection I saw on his left hand, a ring.

Tremors of shock ran through my body.

It wasn't possible for vampires to cry…or pass out, but I was starting to consider that a bad thing.

I just murdered a married man. He has a wife at home. Maybe kids!? I could have just ruined so many people's lives.

I slid against the wall and pulled my legs to my chest.

I sat in a ball curled up, trying to cry for a long time; obviously too long. After a while I heard Peter come back looking for me.

When he saw me on the ground next to a battered body, drained of blood, he ran over to me, vampire speed.

"Hey, hey…"He stroked my hair, pulling my face up so he could see it. "Are you okay?" His eye had become a rich blood red and I immediately wondered if I looked like that too. His gaze shifted to the body and back and sat down beside me.

He waited for me to speak first. He seemed to understand what I was going through.

"He's married." I whispered ever so quietly. He heard of course, stupid vampire.

"Oh…" He waited for me to say something else.

"I don't know if he had kids, but he certainly had a wife at home waiting for him, and now he will never return, never to be heard from again." I pulled my legs tighter and started dry sobbing again.

Peter started to rub circles around my back, a small comfort, but he couldn't give me much else.

He pulled out something he hid in his shirt.

"These had your scent on them, I presume you stole them, you don't have any money; it's still in your bag." He handed me the clothes I had hidden. I took them silently, trying not to get them dirty with blood.

"Thank-you." I whispered.

"Anytime…when you are ready, you can get cleaned up a bit and put on those clothes and we'll head back to the camp." He told me.

I knew that sitting here and wallowing in my misery wasn't going to help the situation at all. I stood up and followed Peter to a deserted house.

I quickly washed myself in the bathroom and got dressed while Peter waited in the other room.

When I got out we slowly started walking towards the tree on the other side of the street. While walking I noticed that the body I had mangled had gone. I silently thanked Peter in my mind. I don't think I could have handled seeing that again.

When we got back to camp again, it was almost light again. Peter wanted to make sure I was completely okay before we got back. I was grateful. Peter seemed to turn out to be a genuinely nice vampire.

"Here we are. I'll show you your room. I heard you didn't get a tour so, basically, those barns and that clearing there are the training grounds. It's in your best interest to spend a lot of time there. More chance of survival. Over here are the cabins. It's two to a room. You woke up in yours but the new blonde that woke up yesterday will be joining you. Not sure how she's doing at the moment." He pointed to the different areas as he spoke.

We walked to the opposite side of the camp before stopping.

"That's yours, I have to go and make sure things are okay but you can come over and train with me soon if you want. I am in charge of the newborns after Major has finished, and you look done with him. See you soon." He then turned and walked away.

I sighed and turned toward my new home. I walked in the door and went towards one of the two beds in the first room.

I only had time to take one step.

I heard a high pitched squeal and then something or somebody collided with me.

"Ahhhhhhhh!"


	6. Chapter 5

__**Hey guys, hope you are enjoying this so far...please let me know if I need to change the rating to M at any point in my story, I know in later chapters that my language gets worse so please leave a review. **

_You don't know a thing about me  
>You ain't got the right to tell me<br>When and where to go, no right to tell me  
>Acting like you own me lately<br>_Mr Know It All – Kelly Clarkson

Chapter 5

I knew there were a lot of strange things about vampires; drinking blood, strange eyes, rock hard and deathly pale skin, incredible speed and strength, special gifts, heightened senses. You would think that vampires were unable to be weakened or overcome. Never able to be taken by surprise or jumped upon without the consent of the vampire being jumped on.

That is what one would think. But as I felt the body of another vampire, I knew that even the indestructible have their weaknesses.

"Oh my god, you must be Isabella! I've been waiting forever for you to get here. I could smell you on the bed but I knew that you weren't here so I went and chose the other bed, I didn't know if it was because you chose the bed or just touched it but i presumed that was your bed. Not that we really need to sleep or anything but its nice to just sit and be by ourselves for a while don't you think? Oh, I have been blabbering on for so long, I'm Charlotte by the way; but if you want you can call me Char." When she finally stopped talking and took a breath, she held her hand out to me, and I returned it shaking her hand.

"Umm…hi. I'm Isabella but you already know that." I remember Peter's conversation from yesterday. "But you can call me Izzy if you want." I meekly smiled at her, unsure of what to do.

"Izzy, I like it! So they told me that you are really new at this too right?" When I nodded, she continued. "So…well I don't know about you but the change is so big and different, and I was thinking we could help each other with it right?" I caught the other meaning; _our lives have just been turned upside down, wanna be friends so we don't have to break down or lose our minds and eventually die? _And I totally understood.

"Yeah, what are friends for right?" I smiled again, but more genuine this time, and I actually meant it, which gave it a whole other level of significance.

"Right," she giggled. "So, I'd give you a tour, but it's really on one room." She motioned around herself, changing the subject. "This is my bed, and yours is there. We can share that bathroom in there; okay then two rooms, and we can share the closet over there. At first I was shocked, share the closet? But I think that because we will be in a _war_ for goodness sake, so I don't think that we need many clothes." She kept talking after that but I zoned out.

She seemed nice, genuinely nice, not just because she's alone with no one else to talk to. I felt that even though it may not have been my first choice, she seemed like a good person to have around, and could actually be a really good friend one day. She was taller than me, but only by a few inches. She seemed a few years older as well, but no older than mid twenties. She had gorgeous hair, almost a golden brown colour, and her eyes were a blood red, like I presumed mine were.

She continued as I walked over to my designated bed and sat down. The mattress wasn't completely comfortable, lumps everywhere, but it wasn't like I was going to sleep on it.

Charlotte seemed to realise that I wasn't listening, so she stopped talking and sat on her bed. It was quiet for a few moments until I spoke.

"So, how's the life of a vampire treating you?"

"Well…I don't know really. I haven't been one for long. What about you?"

I shrugged. "It's okay." I thought of the Major's interesting training techniques. "Have you started training yet?"

She shook her head. "No, I just went hunting before and came back here and waited for you…I'm supposed to go down to one of the barns to train with some guy called Peter?" I nodded my head.

"Yeah, Peter took me hunting before. He's nice, you'll like him. He's a bit laid back, follows the rules but he still has fun, you know?"

She nodded, and we both fell back into a comfortable silence. Obviously it lasted too long, Charlotte started speaking again.

"Well, I am going to head over now. I need all the training I can get if I want to survive the next few months at least." She quickly stood off, straightened her dress, identical to the one I woke up in, and started walking towards the door. I quickly jumped to my feet and followed her.

"Yeah, I'll come too. Can't be dying and leaving you here alone now can I?" I smiled at her, which she returned. We linked our arms for a moment before heading out towards the barn. It wasn't that far away, but then when you run at vampire speed nothing generally is. It's almost like you have the entire world at your finger tips, which is almost true as well.

"Izzy!" I heard someone yell, when I entered the barn. I glanced around and noticed Peter waved at me before going back to duelling with another male vampire.

I glanced at Charlotte, "That's Peter?" She asked. I nodded quickly, before grabbing her arm and leading her over to him.

Looking around, I noticed the barn was split into about five different sections, each separated by wooden beams that looked like they had been pulled from the actual structure. In each section, two or three vampires were circling each other, colliding or just plain throwing punches. In one way, shape or form, everyone was training. Whether they were actually joining in or just carefully watching other fighting, or looking completely out of control and thirsty, they were all busy and trying hard to either practise not being killed or practising other ways to kill. I was surprised at the organisation of a bunch of out of control, bloodthirsty newborns.

We stopped walking a few feet away from the edge of the section Peter was training someone in. He was trying to catch his opponent by surprise, while dodging and deflecting his attacks. I couldn't tell who was winning, neither looked at any sort of disadvantage, until Peter grabbed the other vampire by the wrist and bit into his neck. He stopped before any permanent damage could be done and released the vampire. I looked over at Charlotte to see her reaction. I was completely surprised at what I saw.

Instead of being scared, hurt, disgusted, or shocked, when I looked at her, I saw amazement, admiration, wonderment, and complete awe at the man she saw in front of her. I knew there was something else behind her expression.

"Hey there, Izzy. How are you doing? Come to try and challenge me?" Peter walked over to me as his defeated opponent walked away, holding his neck with a pained expression on his face. I smile at Peter. I was really starting to like him.

"No, not quite. Peter this is Charlotte. You are her trainer and I thought we could train together?" I said to Peter, a half question, unsure of how these things worked. Peter walked over to Charlotte who now looked nervous and frightened out of her skin, partially hiding behind my body as if I would protect her.

"Hello there, ma'am, it's a pleasure to meet you, my names Peter." His voice was just lathered with his southern accent and even I would admit it sounded awesome. He held his hand out and looked in her direction.

Charlotte, still shyly, came out slowly from behind my back and greeted his hand shake. "I am Charlotte, but I prefer Char." She looked down nervously and you could see her hands twitch, tempting her to twist them around each finger anxiously.

"Char…" He seemed to run the names over his tongue, as if testing to see it if fits. He looked back down at her, "Well, we better get started; you never know when we could be attacked."

Charlotte and I shared a worried look. Peter on the other hand seemed unfazed.

"We can train over here, we won't be bothered as much here, and it's quieter and easier to instruct you, see?" He turned and led us over to a training area on the far side of the barn. We followed, avoiding partners or groups that threatened to injure us in any way, even dodging a few flying bodies at one point.

Peter stopped in the middle of the cleared area and gestured Charlotte to the other side of him before turning back in my direction.

"Sorry, but the Major is your official trainer so I can't do anything with you without his permission." I frowned. "Sorry, he should be over there if you want to train too." He pointed towards the barn next door.

"Okay, well bye." I smiled at Peter and waved at Charlotte before I left them to it and went to go spend another few hours in pain. _Training, right, more like torture._

It took less than a second for me to be walking in the doorway of the barn next to the other one. I pushed open the doors and it let out a loud creak. I turned to close them and tried to ignore the stares of other newborns being trained.

One particular fight caught my gaze. I slowly crept over to take a look, not that much could be seen. Blurs collided and separated spinning and whirling around. I tried to focus my new enhanced eyes on specific details. As I concentrated I noticed they were both males, one was sloppier in his movements than the other who had brilliant grace but was fierce some at the same time. I moved closer still, being wary that they may fly out and hit me at any time.

After a few more minutes of kick, punches and dives at one another, a painful _crack _rang out across the whole barn, and one of the vampires went flying across the room. I watched as the wall broke under the pressure and daylight streamed through the huge gaping hole it made. My skin began to feel all warm and tingly; it began to sparkle as it reflected the sun over my invisible pores. The glare that met my eyes signalled that all the other vampires were alit as well.

The Major stood there, sparkling like the rest of us, looking as proud and arrogant as usual. He knew he was the best and he let everyone know all the time.

"I see your back for more." He stalked over to me, looked me up and down as if he was judging my new attire.

I subtly narrowed my eyes at him before replying. "No, I just value my life too much to sit around and do nothing to try and save it." He seemed taken aback by my response. He seems like the type of person to intimidate others and not take any crap from anyone. Other than maybe Maria.

"Well then, you seem eager. No need to waste our time then." To my surprise, he looked at me, then turned abruptly and walked out of the hole he had just created in the wall.

I didn't want to seem vulnerable, so, casting a look at the other confused newborns in the barn, I quietly followed him, taking extra care to watch his movements and make sure that he wasn't going to pounce without giving me a warning and throwing me once again on the ground.

He stopped when we reached the centre of the small camp. It was a small clearing, free of trees and buildings, circular in shape and looked like others had trained or fought here. Logs lay around the outside. I couldn't decide if they were the markings of the edge of the area or seats for vampires who wanted entertainment. It slowly dawned on me that he had taken me to an arena of some sort. The Major was either showing my skills off for assessment, or planning to kill me in public so others would stay in line. I certainly hoped it wasn't the latter.

With a quick glance around myself, I realised I was in the exact centre of the clearing and the Major was starting to circle me, his eye once again looked me up and down, looking instead this time for a weakness or a starting point.

I kept my feet planted, and unconsciously I found my knees bent, bracing my body for an attack. My eyes began to take him in as well. I noticed how he kept his torso faced towards me as his legs moved across themselves. He walked with caution as if he was testing the ground before he stepped on it. His hands hung loosely beside him, but they would twitch every few seconds, letting me know they were alert and ready to be used for attack of defence at anytime. As my eyes made my way to his face I saw that he had a perfect poker face, except his eyes. And that's when I found it.

His weakness lay within his eyes. You look see his every intention there. Where he was looking, where he planned to move next and the different solutions to the current problem he was facing. Me.

Just as I caught the different sort of sparkle in his eyes, he pounced towards me, arms reaching out at the last second.

I predicted his movements as my eyes remained glued on his. With no time to spare I ducked between his hands, lying on my back in the dirt, in kicked my feet into his stomach sending him flying across the clearing. I placed my palms against the ground above my head and pushed, sending my body up standing on my feet again.

I saw the Major on the ground, body lying across one of the logs around the outside of the arena. He seemed startled for a minute but quickly got up on his feet again, crouched and ready to attack. Instead of staying put, I met him, step for step. We circled each other, trying to feint attacks and fool the other person. We were both unsuccessful.

Giving up our attempts of tricking the other we both launched ourselves at the other. We collided in mid air, letting off a huge explosion-like sound; like thunder. I reached for his shoulders the same time he reached for mine. We both tried to throw the other to the ground but ended up sprawling on the floor, rolling each other over.

We eventually made it to our feet, but that didn't stop our fighting. We started throwing punches and kicks, aiming for throats and faces and stomachs; trying to get the upper hand. Major managed for get his hands on my shoulders once again and head-butted me at least halfway across the clearing. I flew back, shocked but also relieved that something had happened in our duel.

I landed on my feet and immediately started running towards him. As I did, I noticed some of the logs around the outside were occupied with others viewing out fight, and they seemed to enjoy the entertainment in front of them. I pounced back on the Major, turning him around so I was positioned on his back, legs and arms wrapped around him. I squeezed hard to get him to stop struggling but I fell backwards on the ground, my head banged against the hard ground.

I cried out in pain, but I didn't let my grip around him become slack. We rolled yet again as he tried to release himself from me.

I kicked on of his legs and he flipped backwards until he was faced up on the ground. I lent over and ever so slightly, just to make my point, I placed me newly grown fangs at his throat.

We stayed there for a few moments, staring into each other eyes, trying to figure out how the hell I managed to best him so easily. The crowd that was gathered around us seemed just as stunned as we were, it wasn't until I heard one lone person applauding that we snapped out of our shock.

Maria was walking towards us, flanked by two other vampires, both were women, both looked at me with the same ferociousness and caution as Maria did.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here! Somebody finally bested our second best fighter. Maria, I believe you finally have some competition." A short blonde girl on the left of Maria spoke first, voices tinkling like bells.

The other girl on the right elbowed her. "Shut up, Nettie. Don't make her even more angry." She murmured quietly but there was really no point with vampire ears around. She was tall and had jet black hair that was straight and hung straight over her shoulders. Nettie looked down at her feet, and remained silent.

"Hush now, Lucy." Maria spoke to the tall one, who then stood silently like her friend.

"But she does have a point." She started circling us. "Get up, girl!" She looked directly at me when she shouted.

Up until now, I forgot I was still lying partly on the Major. I looked down embarrassed and quickly got to my feet. When I was a safe distance, Whitlock followed my lead but walked several steps away. I didn't look at him to see why; Maria was the bigger threat momentarily.

"We need some more real fighters in this army; we can't always win in sheer numbers." She smiled to herself. "Well actually we can, but I don't want everybody dying."

She paced back around to the Major. I could feel the disapproval radiating off Maria as she swarmed over to him, however there was something else mixed in with this dissatisfaction; she was somewhat impressed at what I had managed to achieve. It was a nice change for once.

"You told me to contain her, I guess I was wrong…" accused Maria. Her fingers trailed across his cheek, down his shoulders, before she slapped him in the face. "I guess a girl really has got to do everything herself,' she muttered, walking away from him towards the two girls, waiting at the edge of the clearing.

"Hold these." Maria handed Nettie the bag I hadn't noticed hanging around her shoulders, before turning back at me, looking me up and down, a look that unconsciously caused me to shiver.

"Well, if our Major here couldn't train you right, then I guess it's up to me now."

She started circling me again, like I had been before. I matched her step for step, not letting my back turn on the four hunters I could see surrounding me. Just beneath her lips, I could see her fangs sharpening and her eyes turning black as coal. Her need to rip my head off became more obvious as she waited for the first move that I wasn't willing to make.

Sooner than expected, her body became a blurry outline and I felt the first collision inside my head as I was struck to the ground. I lay face down on the ground; as I got up and wiped my face clean of dirt, I felt the venom pool into my mouth, quickly spitting it to the ground to deflect her next attack. Her move was predictable. She reached for my shoulders before biting my neck, a move that I had seen before. I knew how to block this easily.

With barely a millisecond to spare, my wrist flung out in her face and a crack like a whip met my ears as I watched her body fly over to the far side of the field, landing on a structured placement of logs acting as benches.

The newborns occupying the logs quickly sprung up, eager to watch but not wanting to experience the wrath of Maria. I was vicious now. How dare she undermine my abilities and end my life while trying to embarrass me in front of a bunch of strangers and my new found best friend. I didn't wait for her to recover as I sprang from my position in the centre of the arena. She was still lying face down over the logs as I grabbed her shoulders and threw her backwards, once again landing in the dirt.

She got up slowly, cautiously, once again looking at me and trying to figure me out. She walked up really close to me until I could feel her breath on my face.

With her lips inches away from my ear she said, "I'm glad I turned you now, we need some decent fighters around here, but I will warn you right here and now… if you so much as put a toe out of line, your life will end so painfully and I will purposefully draw it out as long as possible for all the trouble you've caused. Clearly, one vampire alone cannot take you out, but combined with a few gifts we have around here…we have our ways."

She walked away back to the Major. I glanced around and gathered that no one heard what she had said.

"She requires no more training, but I'm sure you'll want to work with her some more. Don't let her be a distraction." She turned abruptly and walked back towards a cabin on the far side of the camp. Lucy and Nettie followed her without a word.


	7. Chapter 6

_I can't get no satisfaction  
>And I try and I try and I try and I try<br>_Satisfaction – Rolling Stones

Chapter 6

When they had entered the cabin, I looked at the Major again. He didn't seem startled about the events that had just transpired but he was recovering quickly enough.

He kept his face empty of emotion as he walked over to me. "You heard her. You no longer require official training but then again like she said, I want to continue training you, your obvious natural talent is intriguing and you lack a certain level of technique," I raised my eyebrows, and he backtracked. "I am not saying you lack technique but it can be worked on."

I considered what he was saying for a moment. It would be better to not feel obligated to train all the time and to meet the expectations of Maria and the other trainers. Not needing to live up to others expectations because I have already outdone them all. I could already fight better than their leader. But then I reconsidered. I could only fight one person but how long could I stand up against two, three or ten other vampires? I realised that I wasn't quite done yet and to be honest, what else was I going to do around here other than train? I wasn't prepared to go hunting anytime soon either so this was probably my best bet.

"What do you have in mind?"

Of course, like usual, what he had in mind wasn't quite what I had expected. I had expected several different things; something along the lines of more private or secluded training sessions or group training, getting me to demonstrate or have to work or try and kill several people at once.

That was not what he had me doing.

In a weird way, it was similar but then again, nothing was predictable, easy or structured as I believed.

Instead of the main barns where other people were trained, we trained around in the forests surrounding the camps. Naturally, there were at least three vampires on my tail at all times to prevent me from escaping, because lets face it, that's always the first thing on my mind.

My training mainly consisted of running around the camp in circles as fast as I could; dodging trees, rocks, boulders and other growth that got in the way. I have currently been running for hours, but every now and then I would smell a vampire and have to hunt them down and take them out. As the time flew by it became harder. More vampires would need to be taken care of and some would, very affectively, sneak up on me from behind and try to take me out.

Eventually the Major changes techniques because I found it too easy. I could sense when other vampires were around me and always managed to turn their attacks against them, using their momentum to my advantage. Like before when someone pounced out of a tree a few feet ahead of me, I used their flight to swing them around and hit them against a huge boulder, temporarily stunning them and I could easily behead them. For the sake of the army and its numbers, I haven't actually completed a kill yet.

I trained like this for days, occasionally moving to the clearing again for the technique training with Whitlock, learning how to kill several people at once. I learned a bit more about his empathy skills, it helped a lot during training because he knew how I was coping with certain tasks and whether I understood what he was saying. He never opened up once. We never had a conversation once about anything other than the next kill.

We rotated, training at night and then during the day. I spent the remainder of my time watching Charlotte and Peter train together, talking with Charlotte about our human lives or just spending time alone in my room.

As the week slowly went past, a scratch in my throat became more prominent and was starting to get uncomfortable. I knew it was thirst, but I wasn't prepared to kill another person. I don't think my body could handle the mental stress and guilt afterwards again.

As it got worse, I spent more time in my cabin looking in the mirror at my darkening eyes and clutching my throat, trying to make the pain become worse. I know the Major knew that it was bothering me but he never made any comment. If it got too out of hand I knew that Maria would soon be on my ass and threatening me and forcing me to hunt.

I spent a lot of my time thinking about when Peter mentioned vampires being able to have gifts. I decided to start distracting myself in trying to figure out if I had one and if I did find out then I would start figuring out how to control it. So far, I had nothing.

"Hey, Izzy, are you in there?" I heard Charlotte footsteps on the dirt outside before she started speaking. I hadn't seen her in about a day; her training sessions and mine prevented us having any time together which was unfortunate because I was starting to like her, a lot.

"Yeah, in here," I walked out of our tiny bathroom that I had discovered when I had a good look around the cabin. It was only a room with a basin and mirror above it. I walked into the main room that contained two useless beds and I tiny dresser with only two drawers. We settled for one each, though it seemed too obvious. We didn't have many, if any, possessions so it didn't make a huge difference. I somehow managed to still have my bag that contained a few possessions from my human life that I had taken with me when I ran away and the ruined white dress I woke up in as a vampire. I kept most of the items in the bag and placed it safely in the drawer, just in case a quick getaway was necessary.

Charlotte walked in looked a bit tired but I think that was mostly because of the dirt that covered her. Vampires couldn't get tired, we didn't sleep.

"How was training?" I asked, trying to make conversation as she walked into the bathroom I had just vacated and she began to wipe her body as clean as possible.

"It was good. Peter says I'm making some progress. I nearly took out two vampires today." She sounded pleased with herself, two vampires were impressive but she had been training for over six hours, and at least four of those hours were combat with other vampires.

"Good job." I sat down on my bed and opened my drawer in the dresser. I still had a few more hours to kill until my next scheduled training session so I decided to read. Of the two books I had collected from home, _Pride and Prejudice_ and _Wuthering Heights_, I chose to read _Wuthering Heights_. I had read them both but _Pride and Prejudice_ was the freshest in my mind, so my hand passed over it as I picked up the other book.

"How has your day been?" She asked politely. She had finished cleaning her arms and was now working on her legs.

"You know the same as every other day: went for a run this morning, doing some sparring this afternoon." I replied a little bored as I lay on my bed and flicked to the first page.

"You're so lucky you're good at fighting. I saw you the other day. It's like instinct with you, maybe it's you gift!" she smiled and giggled to herself. She was clearly dismissing the fact that one of us could have a special ability. "…and you get so much free time too, not fair."

" I rolled my eyes, free time was overrated. "I have to go back to the barn in a few minutes to 'observe' other people fighting. They just want to make sure I'm not causing trouble with you in here."

That was probably true. Maria and the other girls, Major and Peter and the other trainer I didn't know the name of, were trying exceptionally hard to make sure at least one of us were busy at one point in time. They were getting good at it and it was becoming annoying.

"I'm sorry. We never get to talk anymore."

"I know, I miss you too," she sighed loudly before walking out again. "I gotta go, I'll fix the rest of this up later," she said gesturing around her still filthy body. "Catcha later!" she said before almost skipping out of our cabin.

I thought about what she said that fighting could be my gift. I recalled the events of the past few days; how I seemed to know when I was about to be attacked and exactly how to get out of their grip and use it against them. I could escape and counter every attack they had thrown at me, could it be possible it was my gift.

When the Major had first fought me in the barn, before my first feed, I only remember the pain of the thirst. Each time he came at me I didn't bother with counter moves and let him hurt me. When I decided to fight back, even with my little to no knowledge, I had managed to match his moves.

I have a power, but it is more complicated than just being good at fighting.

I moved from my bed, discarding the book on the pillow and walked over to the mirror in the bathroom. The basin was still covered in dirt so I turned and left the tap on to clear it away.

I looked at myself in the mirror. I watched in my reflection as I touched my cheek. Leaning closer I observed my eyes. They were getting darker again. Only the smallest amount of red was there and that was only if you looked at them closely. The rest of my iris was black. But it wasn't like the colour of normal eyes that some people normally get where there is a slight difference between the pupil and the iris. The colour of my eye was the same as the pupil, like it was slowly swallowing up my eye as I became thirstier. How was I going to hide that I wasn't hunting? It was so obvious.

The Major had told me a few hours previously, _you have been given permission to hunt until your next training session. Use this time wisely but if I find that you haven't hunted, I will be your person escort on your expedition and I know that I am not good company to keep during these times. _I didn't take his warning kindly, but I didn't know how I could possibly do it.

I let out a frustrated sigh and dawdled out of our cabin and walked slowly, but warily towards the surrounding woods. Once I was out of sight of the camp, twenty or so feet into the woods, I began jogging. I wasn't up for a run, I would get wherever I was going way too fast but walking made me feel vulnerable, so I settled for the slow pace of a jog. To humans this would still seem pretty fast but it was a speed I was prepared to settle with.

I kept going for a while but eventually angled myself a little to the right, making another circle around camp but further out. I wasn't ready to meet any humans yet.

My throat was so dry it was scratching itself and my unnecessary breaths were coming very quick and it was difficult to get much air in. I looked down to my arms as I felt them become weaker as I ran, falling limp by my sides. My legs began to slow down on their own accord, my head, despite the fact that vampires can't feel pain, was pounding and causing shudders to go through my body. My vision became weaker. At first I though that the trees began to move, their edges becoming blurry, until I realised it was me, they were blurry because of me.

My throat was so dry now, I was barely walking, I leant against a tree, and my arm wrapped around my torso, the pain threatening to turn me inside out. I pressed my back against the hard bark and slid down to the ground. My legs lay in front of me; I couldn't bring myself to lift them up to my chest. My arms were limp, hanging beside me, palms up on the ground. I don't know how long I sat there. I could barely catch a glimpse of the sun as it moved across the sky; my vision was blurry enough that everything was becoming too dark for me to see a few hundred metres in front of me, pretty poor for my heightened eyesight. I started to count the minutes in my head before even my thoughts became too tiring.

So this was what absolute thirst felt like? I thought to myself. We can't die from thirst though, what's happening to me?

Numbing sensations spread over my body the longer I sat there. My eye lids drooped closed and I slumped to the side, by body no longer able to keep me upright.

So this is the end is it? The first vampire to die of thirst. I survived so much, took a beating from an empath and came out on top. After all the effort of not dying in that alley way, this is how I go? Pathetic.

I blacked out, unable to sense anything around me. Deaf, blind with no sense of touch or smell. My body stopped breathing for me as I floated away, my head was spinning, like head rush when I was a human but ten times worse and all over my body.

Nothing, I felt nothing. Everything was like a gigantic black hole.

My neck snapped up and my body turned on again in a split second, rushing forwards clumsily through the trees, arms still swaying uselessly but my legs were moving like they found the emergency energy hidden somewhere inside me. My brain wasn't functioning either. The only thing I could actually feel was my need to run, run to catch it.

Catch what?

My brain was starting to function again I noticed, my surroundings, the few thousand trees, were becoming visible again. But the one thing that it was really telling me was…

_Blood….I can smell blood._

And I could. I seemed to be taken over by the urge to satisfy my pains and weakness, and I was taken over by a force top powerful to stop.

Only as my teeth sunk into a piece of flesh did I realise that I had stopped running and started feeding. The delicious taste of blood running down my throat and I couldn't stop my moan of pleasure as the burning in my throat subsided. Whatever or whoever I was feeding from slowly drained of all blood, stopped fighting long ago and slumped to the floor in a heap.

As stood up and brushed the dirt away from my knees that I had collected from kneeling on the ground. I wiped the remaining blood from around my face, the last few drops I licked from my fingers. I went to turn away and return to the camp, when I froze from the sight in front of me. I hadn't been drinking from a human.

Lying in front of me lay some sort of animal, resembling a deer but I had mangled the body so much that I couldn't tell.

I brought my fingers to my lips and tried to get the taste back to my mouth. It tasted so similar, but there was a certain tang to it that I couldn't place, it wasn't as strong as the taste of human blood, not as satisfying, but it had quenched my thirst…for now.

How long would it last?

I began the run back to camp, I had no idea where my instincts had taken me but what I did know is that I could trace my steps back. It didn't take as long as I thought it would. I had left a pretty good trail back to camp. It seemed I had managed to touch everything in my path.

When I made it back to the camp, I headed straight to the training area. I was greeted by nearly being kicked over as a blur whizzed past me, another blur following the first. Thunder like strikes followed them, the collision of the rock hard skin of a vampire. The blurs were still circling each other and I started to concentrate on them. I noticed one of them had darker hair and the other had blonde hair, slightly longer. They were so evenly matched but I could see, even though everyone else, who had gathered around me to watch as well, couldn't see it. The blonde was gaining the upper hand, starting to move milliseconds before his opponent. Or at least it looks like a man.

"Oh man, they are so evenly matched!" I jumped out of my skin and spun around, crouching, ready to defend myself.

Charlotte walked over to me, hands in the air showing her innocence. "Well jeez, over reaction," she rolled her eyes and came and stood next to me, crossing her arms and looking over at the fight. "They have been fighting for at least an hour now! Can't they just admit that they are too evenly matched? Men!" She rolled her eyes.

"I dunno, I got a feeling this fight will end soon. Look," I pointing towards the blondes hand who was slowly getting closer to the other mans neck until suddenly,

BANG!

He went flying across the open space and into one of the cabins where the blonde stood their waiting, fangs exposed, a clear win. I then realised as the men shook hands at laughed at each other, that they were Peter and the Major. And I now knew just how good they were. It took a couple of seconds before I started freaking out. I had beaten the Major in our last fight, what the hell but I am going to have so much on my shoulders when we fight, I will be expected to kill and help the army in so many ways, I can beat Maria for crying out loud! I nearly started hyperventilating until I saw the look on Charlottes face.

She was looking at Peter, couldn't take her eyes off him, her eyes were shining and a small smile playing at her lips. I followed her gaze and realised it was Peter. She like Peter, oh this was good.

"Char, Charlotte."

"Mmmmmhmmmmm…" She hummed, not noticing my present grin.

"So, Peter huh?" I almost laughed at her face. If she could smile any bigger, it would just be border line creepy.

"Shame he got his ass kicked in that fight huh?" I smirked.

"Hey! It was almost a tie, he was holding his own well until he lost his footing." She turned to me with a frown, very defensively, but stopped when she saw that I was laughing.

"What?" She asked.

I smiled, "you like him, don't you!?"

"No," she started, then looked back at him and then to the floor, "well, maybe." She muttered quietly. I rubbed her arm, comfortingly.

"It's okay you know, I mean, it's completely awkward and complicated, "She shot me a glare, "but, who knows? It could still work out!"

"Yeah, I doubt that. Did you hear that in a few days we'll be fighting? It'll be a long shot that we both even survive and if we do then there is still no hope for us."

"You don't know that!" I spun her around to face me. "You can't believe that. Our lives have just been taken away from us, whatever afterlife or hell we are living in now, we should be the ones to live it, don't give up hope okay? You still deserve to be happy and if Peter is what makes you happy…oh crap here they come." I stopped rambling and stood up straight just as the Major and Peter walked over to us.

"What are you ladies talking about?" Peter announced himself as he met us. Major was looking at me with knowing eyes, he knew what I was just talking about.

"Nothing, can't believe you lost to _him_," I said, trying to lighten the tension that Major and Charlotte was sending out.

Major growled at me, I couldn't blame him, it was supposed to be an insult. Peter just laughed. "One day, I will beat you." He sent a look at his friend before turning to Charlotte. "Wanna continue where we left off?"

She looked so startled, "What!?"

"Er…training?"

"Oh right yeah," she looked down embarrassed. "Let's go, see you later Izzy."

"Bye." They walked off, Peter leading the way. Major turned to me and gave me a pointed look,

"What?"

He frowned. "What's with your eyes?"

"I dunno, I fed just now."

He frowned again. "There's something off about them." He paused and kept looking at my eyes. "Well anyway, change of plans; we won't be training until tomorrow morning, and to have everyone prepared for the battle, your will be training people as well."

This shocked me, "Me? Why?"

"Your one of the best fighters here and Maria isn't happy at the moment, mostly because of you, but if we don't win this then she is going to go on a killing spree, including the remainder of her army and the first hundred humans she crosses so…"

"Well right onto training then." I agreed, not wanting anyone else to suffer at her hands.

"See you tomorrow morning." I turned to leave but he wasn't finished. "And Izzy," I turned back to face him and what I saw surprised me, "thankyou for feeding." Before I could reply, he walked off into one of the barns.

I was shocked, I walked blankly back to our little cabin and walked into the small bathroom, clutching the basin and looking at my reflection, my expression showing my shock.

_Did the Major just thank me? Did he actually let me see that he had real genuine feelings?_

**Okay, just a warning, I am not going to post another chapter until I get at LEAST five reviews (don't mean to sound mean here but still), hope your enjoying so far!**


	8. Chapter 7

**Whoa! I am so sorry! My internet has been down for ages and I haven't been able to upload a chapter! How long has it been? Weeks? Months yet? No probably not. I know I didn't get as many reviews as I asked but I did say I didn't care, I just like to smile when I see them. Please enjoy this chapter (and all the others but since I am writing I thought I should mention it). I will try to upload again by the end of next week but it might be a while after that, I have real life to attend to! Enjoy!**

_I've never been the kind to ever let my feelings show  
>and I thought that bein' strong meant never losin' your self-control<br>_Tonight I Wanna Cry – Keith Urban

Chapter 7

I stood by the basin, considering his words. Where they actually genuine? Did he really care that I wasn't feeding, that I was normal again, or was he just glad that I was strong enough to fight now in a battle and could train others without getting too hurt?

I leaned forward to take a look at my eyes and why they bothered him. They looked fine to me. They weren't black anymore, but a nice pale red colour. Wait, pale red? They were supposed to be blood red. I touched my eyelids with my finger tips. It must have been the animal. It must affect me differently. If I was to continue feeding on animals, would it keep changing my eyes? How could I stop it without killing someone else?

I ran my hands over my face and through my hair in frustration. The Major noticed within seconds, not something I could easily conceal. I hope he just thought that they were still changing from my recent feed but he must know something was up. I sighed before looking at the mirror again.

_Maybe I could just will my eyes to turn red again! _ I thought, sarcastically. I almost laughed at myself until I looked at my eyes again. They were blood red.

I gasped. What the hell just happened! Could I seriously just want something to happen and it will. _I want my eye colour to turn….emerald green. _Nothing happened.

I looked down at the basin and huffed. I turned to the mirror to inspect my eyes again, but what I saw surprised me.

They were green!

Was this some sort of trick? I looked around to see if anyone was messing with me but I was alone. I could hear that the closest person was in a barn at least twenty metres away and was concentrating far too much to be playing with me. What the hell was happening?

I concentrated again on the mirror, leaning forward so I was just inches from the surface. I concentrated my thoughts on my eyes, seeing how far I could push this.

I stared into my own eyes, never blinking not wanting to miss this. Seconds after I thought it, my eyes turned pink, then blue, green again, yellow, crimson, purple, violet, orange, gold, bronze, brown and back to blood red again. _This is so weird. This must be my power!_ What a stupid power. Changing eye colour? Maybe I could do more?

I took a step back from the mirror and concentrated again, my eyebrows furrowed as I thought. I had almost given up on the idea when my hair, naturally chocolate brown, had streaks of blonde coursing through it from my skull until the tips of each hair. I looked completely different with blonde hair. _This is so weird. Can I change any part of my appearance?_

It didn't take long for me to get used to the changes. By the end of the night I could successfully change anything about me, my weight and size, height, eyes, nose, mouth, hair colour, length and style and how my face appeared. I could change my body parts so drastically I could become a man if I wanted to. That thought sent a shudder through me.

I took a quick glance in the mirror, checking everything had returned to normal, except for my eyes, they were to remain the deepest of reds, like blood, to make sure that no one came asking questions. I straightened my top which had somehow managed to remain intact through all my training, which I was pleased. I didn't plan on having to wear one of those horrible white dresses again.

I left, satisfied with my appearance and headed off to one of the barns where I will find the Major and receive my, very strict instructions I am sure.

I walked over and was greeted by about ten vampires all looking clueless and unskilled in any defence or attack work. The Major stood by them keeping watch and making sure they didn't start ripping each others throats out. No matter how little training a vampire has, they still have their instincts and they are always the strongest weapon.

He spun when be heard my arrival, relief passed his face so quickly I wasn't sure if it was ever there. "Good. You will train these newborns. Do not hesitate to snap their necks if they decide to…" he glared at one of the men, "misbehave." He turned to walk out the opposite door. "Have fun." And he was gone.

I looked around at what I was given. They all looked so awkward. Either too young or old, or never seen a fight before in their life. They were all men. Maria was serious when she said she wanted proper fighters.

"Alright listen up," I began to walked around them, taking in every detail of them, looking for strengths and weaknesses. Advantages each of them have and how to use them. "I case you don't know, which I am sure most of you do, you will probably all die in the battle we are about to fight. None of you have done anything in concern to your training and it will reflect during the fighting.

"However, I do not wish for you to die, I am not like Maria, I will try to teach you how to keep your lives and how to do it so that you end a few that deserve it. I will not, however, tolerate any sort of nonsense from you as I don't actually have to do this." I looked around and picked a small boy, hiding behind the rest.

"You," I pointed to him, "come here." I turned and walked to the middle of the barn. I looked to see the boy hadn't yet moved.

"I will not say it again, come here!" I shout. He immediately walks quickly over to me, standing a good distance away.

"Look at this boy, he seems little, too weak to defend himself. He will be easy pickings for anyone on the opposing side." I say to the men. I look back at the boy I chose. "No offence." I smiled briefly, he still seems terrified.

"I will make sure, however, that this boy will kill someone in the days to come. He may not seem like much, but with the right knowledge, he can do something to contribute to whatever we are fighting for. And heck, you may even survive. But not without my help."

I looked him up and down and could tell he was self-conscious, absolutely terrified but had a small glimmer of hope deep within him.

"I can help you," I walked close to him; close enough so he can feel my breath on his face. "If you just let me."

He nodded, as did the rest. They weren't sure what to make of me. I nodded in return. "This boy is small in all meanings of the word. Short, skinny and young. You may doubt this but you can use it to your advantage. Slip through your enemies fingers. Use your speed, not your strength. That can come later, when you are close enough to reach out and snap their necks."

I walked over to the biggest man. "Same for you. They will expect you to use brute force to defeat your opponents. Be unpredictable. Do the unexpected, it will confuse them and give you the advantage.

"Pair up! I want to see how you fight!"

For the next few hours I spent time in groups and individually, working on their techniques of blows and sparring. They were slowly improving which was a good sign. The original boy I chose seemed to make the most progress. They had learned to use their other skills, their speed, incredible sight and hearing to defeat their opponents by outsmarting them, only bringing in strength when it was time for the kill.

As night fell I did not allow them to leave, we still needed to work on large numbers. They could hold their own against one or two other vampires but if they were ambushed they were in trouble. It required a whole new style of fighting. I tried to demonstrate first but it was difficult for them to understand.

"When it comes to ambushes, use your strength more than before. Use the opponent you had just knocked down to kill another one. Remember to use your senses to tell where they are around you and to predict their moves. If they pounce, move at the last second, fling your arm out in their way and snap their neck that way, rip their heads off if you need too. Use their momentum to disarm another."

It took several more hours before seven of them were able to fight a group for a few minutes and gain the upper hand. The others were going to die in the first wave of fighters anyway, although it seemed heartless, I wasn't as concerned with them.

"Okay, take a break. Go hunting if you need to. Meet me back here in twelve hours. I expect you all to be ready to go." Some of them left straight away, some nodding before they left but the boy came to me and said, "Thankyou," before departing.

I waited in the barn for them all to leave. I knew he was there before he made his presence known. He had been watching in secret for most of the second half of training, I knew he was debating coming in and interrupting.

So of course I wasn't at all surprised when he decided to take this moment of silence to pounce.

As usual I was ready, flipping over him as he nearly collided with the opposite wall but stopping just in time. He doubled back, aiming straight for the neck and it was just as he was closing that I felt another's presence. I managed to duck just in time as my first attacker narrowly missed my neck and a second fighter almost flew in from my left.

The next few minutes consisted of only blows and sparring of our limbs. I ducked as someone's arm flung out near my head, bringing out my leg to kick my other opponent. I grabbed someone's shoulders and threw them at the other just as I was attacked from behind again.

A third person was grasping my neck, squeezing, but not long enough to kill me as I ripped off their arms and head-butted their face sending them flying backwards. The others had recovered and were charging again from different sides.

Instead of panicking and admitting defeat like most vampires I jumped and grabbed onto the roof and listened to the sound like thunder as they collided. I rolled my eyes and jumped back down, taking a look at my attackers.

I noticed Charlotte first; retrieving her arms and helping her put them back on.

"Wow, Izzy, there is no way that anyone will ever get their hands on you." We shared grins.

"Good, that is the general idea."

"Yes, even I have to admit that was brilliant. Taking on a group of newborns is one thing, but three fully trained soldiers? That's a feat even I am proud of." Peter stood up and brushed the dirt from his pants before reaching out to shake my hand. We shook, a little too rough for my taste but I couldn't help returning the grin he was giving me.

"Yes, quite an achievement." The Major was off the ground, not bothering to dust himself off. "I'd say that your training is complete."

"Yes yes it was absolutely fantastic," A very sarcastic voice met my ears. I turned to see Maria, flanked by Lucy and Nettie like usual, looking unimpressed. "I would hope that you live up to this, Isabella." She turned and left again, Lucy giving a salute to me before following. Nettie looked angry as she gestured with her hands, first pointing at me then running across her neck. I wasn't allowed to screw this up. _Otherwise I will really die._ I tried not to shudder as they retreated.

"Well that was dramatic." Charlotte was the first to break the silence. Peter let out a laugh.

"The only way she knows how. Want to hunt with me?" He asked Charlotte.

"Sure! See you later, Izzy." They left the barn again, I could tell that hunting was an excuse to be alone together but I would never point that out.

"You're a good trainer." I looked at the Major, who I had almost forgotten.

"Sorry?"

You're good. They listen to you, trust you. They actually might survive half the battle if you train them."

"Umm…thanks?"

His eyes flashed to mine. "No problem." He turned to walk away but stopped. "One day, when this is all over, you need to teach me how to do it."

I frowned. "Do what?"

"Fight like that. I haven't seen anything like it. Its like you know what's going to happen before it does, you know exactly what to do to avoid getting hurt and how do win your battles."

"Oh…" I wasn't sure what to say. "When this is all over, I'll try. But only when it's over." I looked him in the eye.

"When it's all over," He walked to me, held out his hand for me to shake. I nodded, reaching for his grasp, shaking his hand but instead feeling a jolt of energy flow through me. I let go quickly, trying not to show weakness or surprise. His eyes widened slightly, but only for a millisecond, hiding his reaction.

"When it's all over, I will teach you. When it's all over, you will know." We nodded before walking away, each towards a different door, both our separate ways.

The following afternoon I was waiting in the barn for the newborns I was training to show up when I heard it; a loud piercing screech that made my toes curl and sent a shiver down my spine. I turned towards the door of the barn and dashed to it. I peered around and saw a small girl, on the ground, clutching the sides of her head in pain, screaming at the top of her lungs. I recognised her from our camp. One of the slave girls I noticed Maria yelling at every now again, mostly to get her something to drain.

Her suffering was eating at me. I walked out of the barn and joined the crowd that had formed around her. When I passed them, standing on the inside of the half circle, was when I noticed him. Eyes piercing into everybody who had gathered, his fangs were bared, blood dripping down his chin onto the ground. His left hand on the girls shoulder, his grip was strong, fingers curved around her skin. He seemed to enjoy her pain too much.

"STOP!"

I spun to see who had spoken. The crowd next to me parted, like magic, as Maria walked through them, looking mad. Angrier than I thought I'd ever seen anyone.

"Stop," she came to a halt a few feet from the girl on the ground. Lucy and Nettie followed her and stopped on either side of her, both looking just as mad.

"Or what? I will crush you like insects!" He spat in her face.

Maria let out an evil, mocking laugh. "Oh really? I seriously doubt that." She turned to her newborns. "Attack them!" she yelled.

The newborns jumped up and ran in the direction of the trees. It took me a few moments before I realised that another army of newborns were running out of them. The fighting began right away, the clashes and body parts flying everywhere.

"What did I miss? So much for a few days, huh," I turned to see Charlotte, who had just got back from hunting, see the fight and grin. "Well? What are you waiting for?" She laughed as she ran towards the mess of a fight and joined in.

"Whoa, go Char!" Peter ran past me as well, only stopping to send me a wink.

I looked around and saw most of both sides had died, the ones left were duelling, one on one mostly, the occasional two on one. We had the upper hand but I could tell we weren't going to last long at the rate we were going.

I saw Maria in a very intense fight with the man who tortured the girl. She lay lifeless on the ground, her neck snapped and was paralysed. She wasn't going to recover any time soon and was already counted among the dead. I managed to locate each of the newborns I had trained. Unfortunately six of the ten were dead. I was grateful the small boy was among the living, using his size to his advantage. I couldn't help but feel proud. As I searched, there was one face missing; one face that I never thought would miss a fight like this.

Where the hell was the Major?

And it was like instincts again. I felt it, something off. Something was definitely wrong. I took off running, letting my body carry me to where I needed to go. It took me through the trees, around the fight, avoiding all vampires and limbs lying still on the ground. I ran through the trees, but not fast. My destination wasn't too far away.

I stopped at the edge of a clearing. I peered through a thick bush, ducking behind it out of sight. I crept as close as possible before stopping and concentrating my thoughts on my hearing. I cupped my hand around my ear so it would know the direction I wanted to know more about.

"…you're not leaving until you tell me. Do you think that I would come here if I didn't think I would win? You will tell me how to kill her, and then I will kill you, and your girl." Then there were yells and shouts. The voice was deep, definitely male but I didn't know who it was. The yells however sounded too much like the Major but I couldn't be certain. It was rare I heard him speak let alone yell like that. It was evident he was in pain, apart of some wicked torture.

I decided although it wasn't much, it was enough and I was going to intervene. No one deserved that kind of pain. I pushed through the bushes to announce myself and was almost stunned at what I saw.

The Major was tied to a tree, which didn't seem too bad until I saw that his legs and arms were tied around trees of there own. He was swimming in his clothes that had somehow managed to stay intact. A man was standing over one of his legs, hold a lighter, the flame hovering under his toes, not enough to burn or permanently damage him but enough to make it seriously painful. Vampires are weird; even if the body part wasn't connected to its owner, you could still feel it which was just another painful reason why we don't die easily.

But like I said, I was _almost _stunned at what I saw.

Neither man had noticed me yet. The Major was in to much pain and the other man was enjoying his pain far too much. I looked down at my body and thought back to my experiments with my 'gift.' I closed my eyes and concentrated on what I wanted. I opened them and looked at my body again and grinned. _It actually worked. _I slowly crept up on the man until I was standing sideways to them. I made sure I had a clear shot before I kicked him.

My foot connected with his hand and it sent the lighter flying across the clearing, hitting a tree. The man spun around confused, instinctively grabbing at whatever interfered with him. He stopped and looked around confused. He saw nothing. I snuck around the back of him, careful not to step on a twig or a particularly crunchy leaf. I started untying the Major body parts and brought them over to him. The man was looking at the floating body parts in the air in a stunned silence. I first attached his arms so he could untie himself and put on his own legs. I turned around to the man who was slowly backing away.

"Oh no, you don't," I muttered under my breath and forgot about creeping around. I ran full out towards him and punched him in the face. He flew back into a tree but was more prepared this time. He looked towards the ground and followed the dust patterns I was making and the sounds of my breathing to fight. Of course, it was like fighting with a blind man. I stood there rolling my eyes before reaching my arms around his neck, pulling him towards me. I felt my fangs sharpen as I pierced him neck and watched his head roll onto the ground.

I ran over to where the lighted had fallen to and set the man on fire quickly, making sure it was all burning before turning back towards the Major. I took a quick look at myself first and turned back into me.

"Are you okay?" I crouched on my knees beside the Major who was having trouble processing what had just happened.

"Where you just…did you just…how did you…" He was fumbling for words; I had never seen him look so confused. I helped him out of the rope and made sure his limbs were connected properly before helping him up.

"…invisible?" he finished finally. He gave me a blank expression. I felt like laughing at him but tired to restrain myself.

"It's not funny! What the hell just happened here?" He asked me. _Damn, I forgot he could read my emotions._

"It's just. I've been working on it for a while but I wasn't sure how far I could go." I tried to explain. I couldn't think how to put it in words, because I didn't even now what I was capable of yet. "I think I have a gift or power, whatever. I just, I'm still experimenting, and that's all."

He gave me a funny look before replying. "I thought your gift was weirdly good instincts, but this? Never in my existence," He shook his head, pacing away from me, frustrated.

"You wait till Maria still hears about this! She'll flip! We've never had anyone who could turn invisible and we have had a huge number of gifted people here."

I walked up behind in and spun him around, almost fearful. "You can't tell her!" I whispered harshly; the terror evident in my wide eyes.

He seemed to ignore my obvious distaste. "Well of course we have to tell her! She will be thrilled, you could be the greatest edition to this army you know." He seemed giddy over his idea. I just stood there, staring. Was he serious that stupid?

"You are not telling her!" I yelled in his face, giving him a strong shove. "She will never find out about this! And do you know why I know this? Because I just saved your goddamn life, that's why!" He looked a little scared now, just a little. I shoved him again and he fell too the ground. I got to my knees and leant down over him, almost straddling his chest, slightly off him. "And if she does find out, I will make sure that what almost happened here today, will happen, but in a more painful way. Want to imagine that?" He looked terrified, remembering the pain and tried to push me off. I gripped his wrist and pushed them to the ground, pinning him to the ground. He kicked at me and tried to roll us over but I kept us rolling until I was on top again. "You won't tell anyone, is that clear enough for you!?"

I released his wrist and climbed off him, brushing the dirt off my knees and back.

"We should get back, see who won or if Maria is even alive." I turned back in the direction I came in.

"Wait," his voice stopped me. I turned to look at him. He looked a little sad, almost grateful but ashamed at the same time. It was quite a weird facial expression. "Thankyou for saving me," he spoke quietly. I almost needed to strain my ears to hear him. "But can we change the story a little bit. Can I save you instead?" He looked up a little hopeful. I couldn't help it. This time I laughed.

"Oh dear, you want to keep your pride? Its fine, tell them whatever you want, as long as you don't tell them how I actually managed to do it."

He nodded and started walking towards me. "Let's get back to camp shall we? I need to know if I can kill any vampires today."


	9. Chapter 8

_I don't know what I want, so don't ask me  
>Cause I'm still trying to figure it out<br>Don't know what's down this road, I'm just walking  
>Trying to see through the rain coming down<br>_A Place In This World – Taylor Swift

Chapter 8

We ran through the trees together, I was leading the way, but in a subtle way so it would look like I was actually following the Major. The journey there didn't take as long as the journey there did. Only a few minutes and we were walking through the area that once had a series of little huts. I looked around at the remains of the camp, only rubble was left. There was not one building still intact. _Damn, I missed a good fight. _

I didn't dwell on it too long. It seemed we won. I walked over to the remaining survivors, there were only eight survivors, including myself and the Major. Maria sat there, looking a little victorious having won her battle but sad as Lucy and Nettie weren't there with her to celebrate their victory. The small boy I had trained was sitting there with two other vampires I didn't recognise, looking roughed up but otherwise fine. To my relief, Charlotte and Peter were sitting there as well. Peter seemed to be helping Charlotte put her hand back on again, the gesture was adorable and I couldn't help but smile and stifle a laugh.

Charlotte heard and turned around defensively, then noticed me and her face broke into a relieved smile.

"Izzy! I was so worried!" she skipped over and gave me a hug. Peter walked over as well, giving me a brief hug then nodding towards the Major. They seemed to have a silent conversation for a minute there.

"I thought you died! You ran off and then you were gone for ages, I though something bad happened!" She hugged me again, in a tighter squeeze this time before looking me in the eye. "Don't do that again." She tried to scold me. It didn't work, only making me burst into a fit of giggles, which she then joined in on.

"Don't worry, ma'am. She had a run in with General Thompson. Luckily for her, I was looking for him and managed to two birds with one stone. Though only one vampire died," The Major explained. So that was our story. I had a run in with the leader of our enemies. Well, it was close enough to the truth. At least he didn't say I was tortured instead of him.

"Oh, Izzy! I'm so glad you're alright!" I was in another hug again when I saw Maria approach us.

"You got him then?" Her question pointed towards the Major. He nodded. "Good, we won then. Shame about this though," she said, gesturing towards the whole camp. "Looks like we're relocating again; you know what that means?"

The Major took a moment before responding. "Yes."

"Good," she turned to walked away, "Oh, and no mistakes this time." She ran off into the trees. I presumed she was going hunting.

The Major looked at Peter regretfully before walking towards the other vampires that survived. "Come on boys, we are going to look for some more wood. We need to build some more shelters, until we get proper resources." They followed him obediently into the trees.

He looked in fill Major Mode again, dangerous. I wondered when I would see the nice man I met in the woods again. But then it struck me. We were relocating, why did we need more wood?

I turned towards Peter to ask him but he had walked away with Charlotte.

"You should go help too," he told her. "I'll start cleaning up here." She nodded before running off following. Peter finished off burning the remaining pieces of vampire then looking through the wreckage of the buildings.

I walked through what used to be the spaces between the cabins but now resembled wasteland. I reached where my old cabin used to be and starts searching. I found the broken draw and looked inside. I was relieved to see that all my belongings were still there. I made a small bag out of the dress that lay there and put my two books in there. I was about to make room for my diary and my blanket from home but I stopped.

I was getting that weird feeling again. I got up and looked around. _Something is wrong._

I glance over the area quickly. The first thing I noticed was Peter's disappearance. He had vanished; I didn't even hear him leave. I scanned the tree line, looking for something out of place but couldn't find anything.

It wasn't until I turned back to my belongings that I smelt it; the horrible smell of vampires burning.

I looked over at the fire we had lit and it was out; nothing was burning. I remembered when I burned General Thompson's body before but I only burned his body, the fire wasn't big enough for it to light anything else and I still had the lighter, tucked under my shirt. I slowly walked towards the middle of the, now empty, clearing. I was on full alert, eyes darting around, ears straining to hear anything, nose flared, taking in every scent, but still nothing. I almost relaxed again, but then I heard her scream. And I recognised who it came from this time. My best friend…Charlotte.

I flinched from just the sound of it but knew that somehow I needed to help her. I heard the sound of quick approaching feet. I turned in there direction and saw Peter grasping Charlottes forearm, pulling her along with him, chanting over and over, "run, run, run, run…" Charlotte looked terrified and I had never seen Peter looking so protective. They ran past me, not leaving me a glance, their mission was clear, to get as far away as possible.

I could help but feel confused. Did we miss a couple of newborns? What was happening?

I looked towards where they ran from and prepared for an attack. I pulled the makeshift backpack I made over my shoulders and crouched. I stood there for what seemed like hours until I started feeling ridiculous. The smell had long gone and I hadn't heard any sound since Peter and Charlotte ran off. I had nearly given up until I heard the faint sound of footsteps come closer. A shadow appeared at the tree line and I was almost going to pounce until I recognised the figure as the Major.

I sighed in relief. "Thank god, I thought something creepy was happening for a second."

He continued walking towards me, staring straight through me, as if he could actually see through me.

"You shouldn't be here…" he whispered, still approaching.

"What's going on….?" I took a step back, afraid for a moment.

"I left you here for a reason, hoping you would run; hoping, always hoping, that I would never have to do this; that you would take this opportunity to run, hide. But no, you just had to stay, had to torture me some more, didn't you?" He let out a cackle. I felt my eyes widen in fear and I knew he could feel it.

"You feel afraid? Most of the time being afraid is good, but it's not going to help you at the moment. Nothing is going to help, not for either of us." He sighed, a little frustrated and his hand through his hair. "I suppose it come down to this does it? It all ends."

"Wait, what ends?" Then I realised.

He took the vampires into the forest to lure them away and to kill them unexpectedly. Peter had taken Charlotte away, telling her to run from her own death. The fire I smelt before, the one that he had lit to dispose of the rest of his army. When Maria told them to relocate, it was only for her and the Major, maybe Peter but I wont know now.

And now, he was talking about the end, and not wanting to do this, wishing I had ran away instead of staying here. The Major was going to kill me.

He could see the gears turning over in my head, like he was watching them turn, as he came slowly closer.

"So you figure it out did you? Well, you always seemed like a smart one. Obvious not overly bright, staying here, but what did you think would happen? We all live happily ever after? I don't think so. That only happens in fairy tales, and I'm sorry but you are a vampire and this is no fairy tale; we don't get happy endings."

He came to a halt in front of me, inches away. I was frozen since I discovered the truth and I was certain that he was putting this off for as long as possible. We stood there. I don't know how long for but we were just staring. The Major looked regretful and I was sure my face resembled something between shock and being petrified.

"Can I ask you one question before I reach my certain end?" I breathed.

He considered it for a few moments. "I suppose one answer isn't the end of the world."

I thought back quickly, I had so many questions, one didn't seem like enough.

"When we were in the woods, Thompson was torturing you, talking about killing someone, a girl and not knowing how to do it. He called her 'your girl.' So my question is who is your girl?"

He remained quiet. I didn't know what happened. He was just frozen.

"Well I know it's not Maria, you too aren't that close emotionally, you wouldn't care if she died and she does even have a gift, it would be easy to kill her if she didn't have her army, so who is she?" I asked again, a little louder this time.

"Ask another question." He seemed almost offending by my question choice. I realised I had struck a nerve. Was he in love with this girl, did he actually have feelings for someone or was it something else?

"No I want the answer to this one," I replied forcefully.

He grabbed my shoulders and shook them violently and I was scared again.

"Ask a different question." His eyes told me he wasn't joking, I would never get the answer out of him. I didn't deliberate too much this time. I went for something easy.

"What's you real name?" He released my shoulders, looking a little relieved.

"Major Whitlock, at your service, ma'am," He sounded so innocent for a second, so 'Texas.' I almost smiled until I remembered he was trying to kill me.

"What's your first name?"

"You had one question!"

"But you didn't answer it properly!" I yelled, exasperated.

He sighed, and I thought for a second I saw a small amount of vulnerability in his face but is walls were up too fast for me to be certain. "You had one question, and now I've answered it."

He sounded so final I knew this was probably the end for me. I took a step backwards but he matched my step exactly. I took a deep breath and braced myself. I was not going out without a fight and I had beaten him before, I could do it again, right? _Right?_

I moved back again and he followed my movements.

"Please don't make this any more difficult than it needs to be?" He said.

I looked directly into his eyes in defiance. "I am not going to just surrender on my knees, begging for my life. I thought you knew me better than that?" I let out a quick smirk.

"Here's to hoping."

While I had the opportunity as he was distracted from talking I sprinted towards the trees, feeling almost like flying. I was so close, but he came barrelling into me from the side and flew me across the other direction. I went with the momentum and kept running. I don't know how he ran so fast but he was in front of me again, cutting me off. It was too late to stop so I jumped and hoped for the best. He noticed my movement and jumped too. We floated in the air for seconds, trying to restrain the other and both unsuccessful. We landed on the ground with a heavy _thump_ and we started what felt like my last fight.

It was so much more intense than the others I had faced; I could actually be killed soon, but instead of freaking me out and slowing me down, it fuelled my strength and determination to keep going.

We were so evenly matched, identical reactions to each blow, duck and dive. Our fight almost seemed rehearsed, practised to make perfect, making sure that neither of us met our targets.

I began watching his movements. How every time he went to strike me with his hands or arms, the corresponding side of his body would be left unprotected, but only for moments. Every time he ducked or dodged a blow, too much of his concentration went into his movements. I slowly planned my attack, and hit him at just the right second before kicking him the face as he ducked.

He went to hit my right side to I flung out my left arm and nearly struck his side. He ducked just in time, giving me the perfect opportunity to kick and unsettle him. So I did.

He stumbled backwards and I took the opportunity to run. Faster this time and I changed directions more often as well, trying to keep him off my trail so he couldn't catch up again. I was obviously fooling myself. He came up on the side of me and caused a tree to fall, making me change directions to exactly where he was waiting for me.

I stumbled over on the floor. I laid their, his hands pinning me there. I was defeated, this was the end.

I gazed in his eyes and I thought for a moment that, if he had have been human, he would be crying.

"Please don't do it." I begged. I could hear the desperation in my voice.

We both stayed their panting for air though neither of us needed it.

"I can't…I can't do it." He released me and stood up. He reached out his hand and I cautiously took it as he pulled me to my feet.

We stood their in awkward silence. He broke it first.

"She will come looking, for a fire proving you dead. I don't know how I can fake that…"

"Peter and Charlotte?"

"She knows that if they were to turn on me I wouldn't win, but she always expects me to beat you."

"Oh…"

The silence was starting to hurt my ears. I knew what I had to do. Sighing, I walked over to a small bush and used the lighter I still had under my clothes to light it.

"That's not going to work…"

"The smell, I know." I ran my fingers through my hair and regretfully, using my sharpened fangs, cut off a small lock of it; just big enough to burn. I dropped it in the flames and the smoke immediately turned purple and the smell was disgusting. No one could ever tell that no one died there.

I turned back to the Major. "You will never understand…how much this means to me."

"I'm an empathy remember? I understand everything."

I let out a small laugh. "But still, thank you…Whitlock."

He gave me a half hearted smile. "If she ever finds out, I will die so, don't take this the wrong way, but don't ever come back."

I returned his almost smile. "It's definitely not in my current plans."

"What is?"

"You know, travelling, learning different languages, seeing the world, learning how to be around humans without wanting to rip their throats out…the usual."

It was meant as a joke, but the mood turned awkward again. I went to leave but was stopped by his hand on my arm. I looked back at him.

"I…."

"It's okay, you know." I shrugged his hand off and took a step backwards.

"It's just…gah!" He ran his hand through his hair in defeat. "The girl you wanted to know about?"

I perked up at this, curious to who had (probably) stolen his heart.

"The girl is umm…well, she's you."

I stood their stunned. I couldn't actually process what he had just said. Me? He was being tortured because of me? Wait, he was being tortured because of me! He cared enough to be put through that agonising pain, for me. Oh god, this was too much in one day.

"You said, one day when it's over, you would teach me. Well, I am releasing you from that. Hopefully I will never see you again; then at least I know you are still alive."

He took a step closer towards me and pulled me towards him before pressing his lips softly against mine. They were softer than I expected, not that I ever imagined them before. They were warm and fit and moved perfectly with mine. Our lips slowly moved together for a few moments before he pulled away and rested his forehead against mine. We stared into each others eyes. He pressed his lips against mine once more before turning and walking away.

"Hey Whitlock!" He turned slowly, looking back at me.

I smiled, "I made you a promise and I intend to keep it. Nothing is over yet."

He returned the smile, "He's to hoping."

With one final glance, we turned and went our separate ways. I tucked in my lighter under my clothes and secured my bag to my back as it managed to survive the fight. And I headed out into the great unknown. Who knows where I go from here.

_Who cares? You are free, at last, with nothing holding you back. You can go anywhere, do anything…and maybe one day, you'll see him again._

I smiled as I pressed my fingers to my lips, remembering how it felt to kiss him, and ran off deeper into the trees than I had ever been before.

**PLEASE READ: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! This is pretty much the end of part one of this story and I am sorry to say we have reached the end of our time in the 1800's. **

**To that one reviewer that I can't contact, the next chapter should answer all your questions…and everyone else's…at least by the next two chapters at most.**

**Also, if you want me to do a 'Previously' at the start of every chapter (very…very brief) then let me know, I understand how it is when you forget what happened when an author takes forever to update!**

**It's nice to read all my reviews, makes my day every time! Thankyou to all you lovely people who make the effort!**


	10. Chapter 9

**Alright all, so sorry for this delay, I will try harder to make sure I update more regularly but…no promises. Just a warning, the language is a little different in this chapter, so look out!**

**Hope you all enjoy!**

_There is no hiding place, nowhere to go, nowhere safe  
>There is no hiding place<br>_No Hiding Place - Foreigner

PREVIOUSLY

"_Hey Whitlock!" He turned slowly, looking back at me._

_I smiled, "I made you a promise and I intend to keep it. Nothing is over yet."_

_He returned the smile, "He's to hoping."_

_With one final glance, we turned and went our separate ways. I tucked in my lighter under my clothes and secured my bag to my back as it managed to survive the fight. And I headed out into the great unknown. Who knows where I go from here._

_Who cares? You are free, at last, with nothing holding you back. You can go anywhere, do anything…and maybe one day, you'll see him again._

_I smiled as I pressed my fingers to my lips, remembering how it felt to kiss him, and ran off deeper into the trees than I had ever been before. _

Chapter 9

_**Edward**_

My tray of cafeteria food sat in front of me on the table, untouched, like always. I was trying to drown out the sounds the rest of the students surrounding me; blocking the sounds of unnecessarily chatter, mixed with their thoughts that could not be muted. It was even worse today; everyone was gossiping about some new girl.

Normally I wouldn't be interested but this girl seemed to attract more attention than any one else had before. Sure, Forks High School was a small school and the town in general was tiny. We rarely had any visitors, but when we did it never caused at much commotion as this.

I looked over at Rosalie and Emmett who were staring at each other again. _Disgusting. _ I shook my head and kicked them under the table.

Emmett glared at me before turning back to Rosalie and shoving his tongue down her throat which she returned enthusiastically. _Suffer asshole. _Emmett directed his thoughts towards me, trying to piss me off as much as possible. I turned to Alice and saw her sniggering at me, face behind her magazine.

_Give them a break Edward. Don't set them off again or they won't be able to stop. _We both shuddered, remembering how it used to be after their honeymoon. They should have stayed away for longer. Being vampires was awful sometimes, they didn't need to sleep…ever and because of our sensitive hearing, it could be unbearable at times.

"Who do you think the new girl is?" Emmett asked, finally separating himself from Rosalie.

"I heard she's the Chief's daughter." Alice replied, not taking her eyes off her magazine.

"I thought he didn't have any kids?" Rosalie asked.

"Well, technically he doesn't. He actually adopted her recently. Which is weird because she's our age, she could just move on with her life now." She paused and looked around. We didn't give any sort of reaction so she rolled her eyes and continued. "Well I thought it was weird."

"Is she hot?" Rosalie smacked Emmett in the head. Emmett ducked and rubbed the side of it. "Just curious, this school is getting pretty boring."

"It's not like she's going to affect us, like at all," Rosalie replied. "Well, unless Jasper hooks up with her." We all snickered at the thought.

"Oh don't be mean too him. He's working on it." Alice tried to defend him but we all ended up laughing harder.

"You know if he was here he would kick all your arses." She stated, matter-of-factly.

"Well he's not here is he?" Emmett retorted.

"It not his fault he almost snapped again! You know he's only taking the day off to make sure he doesn't accidentally kill someone else." Alice defended in a frustrated tone.

"Chill, I was just saying. No need to get all worked up." Emmett raised his hands in a mock surrender.

"Are you guys going to ever stop arguing and notice that the new girl has made an appearance?" Rosalie was looking at her nails as she said this, clearly disinterested from what she remarking on.

They all turned to see, with the exception to Rosalie, the new girl, crowded by most of the students currently attending Forks High. She had just collected her food and was making her way towards the only vacant table in the cafeteria. We were all shell shocked; she was beautiful. Long brunette waves fell down her back. She had an amazing smile that lit up her whole face and her eyes were a deep chocolate brown. As we were looking over at her, she became aware of the eyes engaging her and she turned to meet our gazes.

_**Isabella**_

I felt the familiar sensation of being watched as my skin crawled. I glanced quickly over my shoulder to see where it was coming from and was shocked. _Oh my god!_

I hid my reaction as best as I could but nothing could stop my gaping mouth and widened eyes. There were four vampires sitting across the cafeteria looking right at me. Oh holy crap! I came here to stay a secret, and now I was screwed!

_No, Isabella, you'll be just fine! _My inner voice told me.

I had taken so many precautions to come here and I didn't want a bunch of vampires ruining it! It is so hard for me to settle down for more than a few months, this might be the only chance I get for a long time.

It has been over a hundred years since I was human, and since then I have worked and trained so hard, with the assistance of my 'gift' to make people believe I was human. I had learnt through many hours of staring in a mirror that I can change more than my appearance, more than becoming invisible. I can block others powers and use their powers against them, I can predict events before they happen, but only when they concern me. I can change the temperature of my body, create blood that flows through the useless veins in my body, a faint heartbeat and I can actually bleed, but the blood that comes out is not mine; rather my most recent kill.

I turned back to a girl I had just met, Jessica, I think? I concentrated hard on making sure I had a warm temperature and that my heartbeat stayed consistent, so the vampires across the cafeteria wouldn't get too suspicious.

"So, Isabella? Is it true you were adopted by Chief Swan?" Jessica asked, giving a suspicious glance to the girl sitting next to her, Lauren.

"Yeah, recently actually. He has been very nice to me." I didn't want to answer too many questions. Then I would have to go into details of how a supposed seventeen year old like me was adopted.

"Oh, okay," She didn't harass me for anymore information instead turning to Lauren to talk about some recent gossip. I sat down next to them at a table we had just occupied, glancing inconspicuously around the room and noticed the vampires out of the corner of my eye. Why were they looking at me. My eyes flickered back to the girls in front of me, who were just joined by two guys.

"Who are _they_?" I asked a girl in front of me, I couldn't remember her name.

Her gaze flickered over to where I was just looking and smiled at me as if she understood. Jessica was listening to our exchange and giggled.

"That's Edward, Alice and Emmett Cullen. The blonde is Rosalie Hale. They live together with Dr Cullen and his wife." She spoke quietly, as if she was afraid they would hear her. And she wasn't completely wrong. I looked at them and noticed they were too motionless, obviously concentrating on something else in the room, and there is nothing else going on. I was a vampire as well. I could tell. Their names though, so old, it just told me more that they were like me, from a different era. .

"They are all…very nice looking, aren't they?" I had to same something as they were still looking at me for a reaction. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that they all smiled, as if one of them had said a joke, but I knew different.

Jessica laughed. "Yes, but Edward, the one facing the door," she pointed out one of the males, with bronze hair, "He is definitely the hottest out of the all."

She and Lauren burst into a fit of giggles. The other girl just rolled her eyes.

"They aren't all related though. Dr Cullen adopted them all. Rosalie is Mrs Cullen niece I think though, but the rest came from foster care. And it's weird," she quickly looked over to them. "They are live together, like together together. Emmett and Rosalie are together, and are so loved up, sometimes it looks wrong." She seemed a bit embarrassed by sharing.

I looked over to them and nearly rolled my eyes when I saw the huge male and the blonde, Rosalie, looking as though they were about to laugh as well. I noticed they were sitting close together, unnaturally close together. I almost smiled at them. At least they had each other in this horrible life, never dying, never moving on.

"What about the other two? Are they together as well?" I asked, actually curious.

"Who really knows with Alice," I saw them on the other table look at her and smirk, "I don't know anything about her at all really. Just that she is way too happy all the time and has way too much energy." Edward nudged Alice as she spoke. They all seemed to think it was very entertaining. "Edward though, we know he's single but don't waste your time on him. He doesn't date. Apparently none of the girls here are good-looking enough for him." She and Lauren looked very upset from this judgement.

I smiled. Of course, he wouldn't want just any human. He wanted a vampire, someone to share his life with.

The bell rung, announcing that lunch was over.. I looked down at the piece of paper I had pulled from my pocket, _Biology_ it read_. _Oh joy, the study of living things, something I am unfortunately not.

I walked into the classroom and over to the teachers desk. I handed him the slip I was given at the start of the day. He glanced at it quickly, signed it and handed it back.

"Mr Banner," he introduced himself. I gave him an awkward smile before reaching out and taking the slip.

I looked towards the desks and noticed they were mostly occupied. I knew I wasn't late but obviously Mr Banner likes punctuality. Mr Banner was motioning over to the only empty seat in the classroom. Right next to the one and only Edward Cullen.

With my eyes down, I walked over to the lab bench. I double checked my body temperature in my mind, ensuring that my heart was still beating, just in case he happened to touch me. I sat down, placing my books neatly on the top of the desk and tried as hard as normal to ignore the vampire next to me. That didn't really work.

As I sat down, I was hit by a feeling that had grown familiar over the past few decades. The feeling of a gift that may threaten me, and the voice of instinct, the gift I possessed to let me know what it was, told me he was a mind reader. Crap. _This is not good._

If he can read my mind, he'll find out straight away what I am and that I know what he is but if I don't open my mind he'll get suspicious and might ask questions. I felt a probing feeling on my head, as if someone was poking it with a stick, trying to get in and search it without permission. I knew what I had to do. I let my gift take over.

The experience cannot be explained accurately. It was like watching someone else take over my body, my gift, and they took control over it as I watched. The mind reader, Edward, was poking around and my gift told me that he could only hear what I was thinking during the present time. I knew that my real thoughts were safe for now. I was instinctively blocking out my real thoughts and displaying counterfeit ones in defence. Thoughts of Biology, small sections of lunchtime conversations, what the hell those two guys across the room were doing; stuff that most people would talk about so it won't look suspicious.

It seemed to work as I felt him retreat and ignore me again. I kept my wall up, making sure I displayed only specific thoughts, just in case he decided to pop in again.

"Okay class, work with your partners, I will be coming round in twenty minutes to see who has it right." Mr Banner broke my thoughts. I noticed he had placed a few microscope slides on the desk between Edward and I, and expected us to separate the slides of onion root tip cells into the phases of mitosis they represented and label them accordingly. The other students were already working and all looked like they had no idea. Some already had their books out underneath the desks and were trying to figure it out that way.

"Ladies first?" A gentle, musical voice broke the silence between us. I looked at Edward, shocked and unsure as to why I experienced this moment of shock.

"Sure." I took the first slide and slid the microscope towards me. I sat up in my chair, adjusted the focus and studied the slide briefly. Despite the fact that I haven't settled down for long, I had completed high school a few times which gave me a slight advantage and being a vampire with a photographic memory helped as well.

I knew to not look suspicious so I looked for a moment, instead of a few milliseconds before answering, "Prophase."

"Do you mind if I look?" He asked, carefully guarded. _Bastard._ I said in my mind, letting him hear. He didn't give a physical reaction but I could see that he heard me from his eyes.

He ignored me completely of course and took a quick look in the microscope he had slid over before writing _prophase_ on the worksheet on the desk between us. He had such straight, neat writing. Another sign that he was a vampire. We all had incredibly patient hands and grace.

"Did you really doubt me?" I muttered quietly, sarcastically.

He gave me a funny look before switching slides. He gave another millisecond glance before saying with confidence, "Anaphase." He went to write it down but I pulled the worksheet out from under his hand.

"Do you mind if I look?" I quoted him, before smirking to myself and sliding the microscope towards me and peered in as well. "Anaphase," I nodded towards him, telling him he was indeed correct, before writing _anaphase_ on the worksheet in my equally neat handwriting.

"Did you really doubt me?" He quoted me back. I looked at him for a moment. I opened my mind to my real thoughts to let him hear _cocky bastard_ before closing my mind to Edward's prowling.

He almost flinched this time but recovered quickly. He handed me another slide, but I noticed he dropped it in my hand instead of passing it. He must be extra cautious about his cold temperature.

"So," I spoke to him while I glanced in the microscope once again and wrote down _interphase _on the worksheet. "Have you done this lab before then?" I was laughing inside at myself. Of course he has, I didn't know how old he was but he seemed so relaxed over this lab it must be his hundredth time doing it.

"No I haven't, you?" he backlashed me. Idiot.

"Yes," was all I replied. I saw his hand twitching before reaching over to check my answer. He looked and didn't argue with me. I smiled smugly at him.

"Where?" He had now changed the slide and was looking through the microscope once more and writing the answer neatly on the sheet of paper. "Would you like to check?" He offered, a little frustrated. I gave myself a mental high five. Messing with unsuspecting vampires was fun.

"No I believe you," I leant back in my chair, tipping it on its back two legs, comfortably sitting and observing him. "Go ahead and carry on." I smirked again, and allowing him to see it.

Edward handed me the microscope anyway and slid the last slide across the desk towards me. He returned the smirk. I rolled my eyes at him before returning my chair to its original position and barely glancing in the microscope to conclude that we were correct. I wrote the answer on the worksheet in front of me before returning to my position, leaning back in the chair.

I left Edward to pack up the bench as I openly eyed him.

"It's rude to stare, you know," He commented as he stacked the slides next to the microscope. We were the only pair finished and it seemed the only group who had a chance of finishing.

"It's not staring, it's called observing," I replied. I wanted to know as much about this guy as possible, which did require being nice, but it was much more fun to piss him off.

"So," he encouraged, changing the subject, "Where have you done this lab before?" He politely enquired, however I knew there was some other meaning underneath it.

"What do you know about me, Cullen."

He looked taken aback; either because I knew his name, or because I addressed him by his last name. I couldn't be sure.

"Your name is Isabella Swan. You were adopted my Chief Swan recently and before that you were raised in foster care since you were born." He recited the cover story that I had made up to protect me. The one I told Charlie, or Chief Swan, was a little more detailed.

"I had a tutor in foster care. It's easier to work alone and we got through more classes than I would have if I attended normal school." A complete lie, but he didn't have to know that. He accepted it anyway, caution still in his eyes but he at least had concluded that I wasn't a complete freak... or threat to him in any way. He could continue thinking that.

"So, Edward, didn't you think Isabella should get a chance with the microscope?" Mr Banner snuck up on us but neither Edward nor I were surprised. We were having an intense staring contest, trying to figure the other out, which wasn't succeeding.

"Actually, Mr Banner," he broke eye contact to look at our teacher, "Isabella identified three of the five."

"Have you done this lab before, Miss Swan?" He asked.

"Yeah, I had a tutor," I replied, hoping he would buy it. He did but waited for a moment before replying.

"Well. I guess its good you two are lab partners." He muttered before walking over to the other benches to spy on others students' progress.

"So, how do you like Forks so far?" Edward asked, making small talk, purely to pass the time.

"It's alright I suppose." I got out my notebook and started doodling on the back pages.

"Only alright? Why do you say that?" he actually seemed a little curious, but I doubted he was too interested.

"I don't like the cold. Or the wet for that matter," I replied, which was actually true. One if the few true things I have said to him.

"Well, Forks wasn't a good choice then. It's never not cold and wet."

I sighed and relaxed back down on my chair. The conversation seemed over so I continued to doodle on my notebook. I was curious as to what he was thinking about me. I found that little push in my brain somewhere and found his gift. I slowly pushed against it in my head and reached out to Edward.

…_strange thoughts too. Like their programmed in already…_I could hear his thoughts now.

I drummed my fingers against the edge of the bench to appear bored.

…_doesn't seem to think much about, oh great cause that's not annoying._ He was referring to my fingers.

"Can you please stop doing that?" He asked politely, I could hear a hint of venom in his voice, but only a vampire could have heard it.

"No," I replied, letting the venom roll off my tongue as a warning. I regretted doing it. It might look too suspicious.

…_whoa, what was that? It sounded like…but no it can't be. I can hear her heartbeat, she has a pulse and she's _warm…_there is no way…Alice would have_ seen_…_

I crept out of his thoughts again but stopped tapping on the bench. I remained quiet for the last few minutes of class. That Alice girl could have _seen?_ Does that mean? Oh crap, they have a psychic. More precautions to concentrate on, I hated blocking several gifts.

"That's all for today then," Mr Banner spoke just as the bell rang out; signalling the end of class.

I gathered my books quickly in my arms and left the classroom in a rush and was out the door before other students even noticed the bell had gone.

The rest of the day passed quickly, I hated gym, not because I was bad at sports, but because I had to pretend I was. Pretending to be clumsy and slow and weak was harder than it looks.

Coach Clapp dismissed us late, so by the time I was at my truck, a red Chevy courtesy of Charlie as a welcome gift, the parking lot was packed. I sighed, threw my bag in the backseat of my car and jumped in the front. I put my keys in the ignition and reversed out of my space and joined the queue.

I looked across the packing lot and noticed Edward climbing into a silver Volvo, the only decent car around. His adopted family followed him, the girl Alice taking the front seat, Emmett and Rosalie sliding in the back. I met Edwards eyes reflected in his mirror before I drove out of the parking lot and sped home as fast as my truck allowed.

I parked on the curb and noticed Charlie's cruiser wasn't parked in his usual spot, or there at all. I unlocked the door and let myself in. Walking through the hallway and into the kitchen, I noticed Charlie had left a note on the bench. Folding it open I read;

_Isabella,  
>Sorry, I wont be home tonight, I am working the night shift tonight.<br>There is money in the usual spot so you can order in if you want.  
>See you tomorrow after school,<br>Charlie_

I opened the cupboard under the sink and threw the note in the bin before walking to the front entrance and opened the drawer of the stand that sat there, for keys and umbrellas. I pulled the twenty dollar note from inside and walked upstairs. I stashed the note in my bedside table, to hide the evidence as I didn't need to eat food, I needed to hunt. Now there are vampires in town I needed to keep up my strength so I could continue looking normal, or a least human.

I walked into the bathroom to double check my appearance. I had changed the colour of my eyes to a dark, chocolate brown, how they used to be when I was human, and I made my hair a few shades lighter. It didn't need to be too different. My nose was slightly larger but that was all I really needed. It's not as if I would run into anyone I knew here but I couldn't have perfect features. I wasn't interested in that sort of jealously. I also had given myself a light tan. Not as much as I would normally as I was living in a town with no sun anyway.

But my endeavour to appear human drained the energy from me, meaning I would need to hunt more often now. I mentally saved the image of my appearance and changed back to the golden eyes, unnatural beauty and pale skin I was used to.

I walked back to my bedroom, crossed it and opened the window on the far side as wide as it could go. I didn't want neighbours to see me leave so this was the best option. I didn't feel like using my gift to hide at the moment, I was already too tired. I don't think I could keep it up for much longer.

I leaped out the window and gracefully landed on my feet and sped off into the forest. It felt amazing to not care anymore, to just let my vampire side out. I darted between the trees at top speed, watching them fly past me. It didn't take long for me to catch the scent of an animal. I changed directions, not bothering to sneak up on it, it couldn't out run me. I pounced and sunk my teeth into a deer's flesh. I ignored the uncomfortable feel of its fur and concentrated on the lovely feeling of its blood run down my throat. I dropped it as I finished and quickly wiped my mouth out of habit. I was actually a very clean drinker.

I quickly disposed of the carcass just in case some hiker travelled too far and got a bit of a shock. I brushed my knees and legs of dirt and took off running once again.

It was imperative that I took the necessary precautions of keeping my true nature hidden; therefore I drank more than I normally would.

When I was about to make my way back home again, I could feel my hair rise on end and my gift telling me softly that I was not alone. I immediately stopped moving, closed my eyes and assessed my surroundings. Closing my eyes, surprisingly I had learned, made my knowledge more accurate. I could feel the presence of trees and a few small wild animals. On a tree almost directly behind me, I could feel the presence of a vampire. I could smell it now too.

I cracked a grin, recognising the scent. I felt a disturbance in the tree and spun around just in time to use my attackers force against him, quickly pinning him to the ground, straddling his chest.

"Nothing ever gets past you does it?" The dark man underneath me grinned at me.

I got off him and helped him up again.

"Of course not! Do you not know me at all, Laurent?" I asked at my old acquaintance, smirking at him now.

"What are you doing here anyway?" I asked. "Last time I saw you, you were headed to Africa! Change of plans? The states are just too good to leave aren't they?" I joked.

"Actually, I was set in moving, still am, but I ran into _her."_

I just stared, stunned.

"Is she coming?" I whispered.

He looked at me in a regretful way. "Yes. And she's bringing more back up than last time."

"More back up! I didn't think that was possible. Fifty soldiers not enough for her then?" I exclaimed.

"Well they weren't enough to stop you, and you know how set she is in that."

I nodded in understanding. "Thank you for coming to warn me, I trust you'll head off now." He nodded. "I thought so. I don't expect you help, I still owe you for last time."

"You don't owe me anything; she was trying to kill me too." We shared a grimace. Bad memories.

"Well, thanks again anyway. I see you one day? Or I'll die…either one!" I tried to lighten the mood. He cracked half a smile, appreciating the effort before running off.

I sighed. What the hell was I going to do? I thought fifty newborns were beyond ridiculous but more? Laurent was gone and I was on my own. How the hell was I going to fight them? I knew I was good, but I would go into sensory overload and probably die from shock.

Wait a second…the Cullen's! Maybe I could convince them to help! But where did they live?

I sprinted back to the house and went to straight to Charlie's study, where he kept his computer. It didn't take me long to hack in and search the database. It was handy having a policeman as an adopted father.

I looked through the many address of people in Forks, a surprisingly few amount, until I found the Cullens'. By the looks of it, they were a while away, in a very isolated area. _Smart, don't want people getting nosey in their business. _I memories the address and jumped once again out of my window and started running in the general direction.

I was about one and a half miles away when I realised that a vampire showing up on their doorstep might now go down too well. I stopped running and concentrated on turning back into my 'human self.' I took off running again. I hated running in 'human' form. I could get hurt on the branches and I soon had a few cuts and scratches on my arms and face.

I came to gap in the woods and realised it was part of a long and windy driveway. I looked to my left and could see a small part of the highway, so I walked right down the road. Even though I just hunted, it was hard maintaining my human form and could feel my control slowly slip through. As I was almost human, the cuts and scrapes actually stayed on my skin, instead of not appearing at all, and the worser one were bleeding fairly heavily. It was the bleeding that slowed me down. The animal blood had just fed from was leaving me through my skin. I knew if I turned back into my proper self it would all stop but I needed the Cullen's to recognise me first.

I was so weak by the time I made it to their huge and glamorous house, though I expected nothing less. I was tripping over the stairs when the door opened. I had managed to hide from the seer but I knew that they would hear me as I came closer. They obviously weren't used to visitors because I saw six vampires at the door, looking very surprised and shocked.

I managed to pull myself off the floor, with the help of the wall.

"Isabella?" Edward asked, worried, though none of his family came out to help me.

I stood too my full height, they knew who I was; I no longer needed to keep up my disguise.

I felt myself change back and their eyes widened as I did. Their expressions crossed between horrified, amazed, scared and utterly shocked.

"Please…" I gasped, feeling my strength return.

"I need your help."


	11. Chapter 10

**This chapter is a little shorter than the rest of them but it should answer most, if not all, of your questions!**

**Thankyou to my beta out there, claire-bookworm! (Although she takes a week to reply)**

**Thankyou to all my reviewers! It really lightens my day to read all your thoughts!**

_Give em hell, turn their heads  
>Gonna live life 'til we're dead.<br>Give me scars, give me pain  
>Then they'll say to me, There goes the fighter<br>_The Fighter – Gym Class Heroes

Chapter 10

They were all staring at me in shock, all stunned to silence. I knew they were looking at my eyes, my pale skin and were intrigued by the fact that I no longer had a heartbeat.

I rolled my eyes at the irony. "Oh please."

Being a little bold, I walked past them into the house and looked around and noticed it was all well furnished. I knew that they were well off in terms of money; it looked like the front entrance alone was worth several million dollars, of not more.

"Nice place," I commented to the frozen vampires that had now turned to continue staring.

I looked at the couple that had opened the door who I presumed to be Dr Cullen and his wife; as I had never seen them before.

"It's nice to meet you, Doctor," holding out my hand to shake politely. He slowly lifted his and grasped my hand slowly and softly and gave it a small shake. I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Edward, Alice." I nodded to them before turning to the other two lovebirds and sniggering. "Emmett, Rosalie." They nodded in return.

Edward was the first to recover.

"How…what…why?" He stammered. _He's cute when he's speechless._

"I heard that!"

"I thought it so I win!" I giggled and turned to walk through his house. "Besides, it was a compliment, learn to accept them."

I went to go to the next room when my path was blocked by a huge vampire. "What are you doing?" Emmett questioned.

"I'm going to sit down. I'm tired." I went to move past him but he blocked my path.

"No," he commanded.

I rolled my eyes, I actually was tired, and I deserved a sit down so I could explain.

"Umm….yes. Don't make me hurt you." I replied, not meaning to threaten him, merely just warning him.

He took it as a threat though and laughed. "Do you think you could beat me?" He asked, gesturing to his huge body.

"Yes," I replied raising my eyebrows. He laughed again.

"Really…?" Before he could finished his sentence I grabbed his shoulders and threw him around me, pinning him to the floor by my hand grasping him neck.

"Yes I do." I released him.

"Excuse me? Don't touch him!" Rosalie sounded so predatory it was actually quite scary.

She dashed at me suddenly, but please, I have fought in wars. This was nothing. I ducked as she went to punch my face and as she flew past I grabbed her waist and threw her through the open front door.

"Can I go sit down now?" I asked Emmett who was still on the floor.

I didn't wait for an answer but walked into the next room, the rest of the family close behind to keep an eye on me.

I only made it halfway across the room before I was attacked again. But this time from a seventh vampire I hadn't noticed. _Stupid me, I should be concentrating. _I scolded myself and began a duel with the new vampire.

I couldn't make the vampire out properly but I could tell it was a man and that he was experienced. _Damn. _

We sparred for a few moments before I glimpsed his face and stopped fighting; shocked. He jumped with me across the room and pinned me to the wall. My eyes were still wide with shock and I was frozen. When we stopped moving he caught a look at me and his eyes widened in shock as well. He jumped back to the opposite side of the room, behind a couch. I took a step forward just to get away from the wall.

We stared at each other for a while. His eyes were golden now, he was drinking animal blood and he was wearing _jeans!_ This was too weird.

"Isabella?" He broke the silence. He was as shocked as I was but he could speak, I was struggling.

The rest of the Cullen's had watched the fight and were now looking between the two of us in confusion.

I blinked a few times and rubbed my eyes a few times as well. "I'm dead right? I can't dream, can I?" I asked nothing in particular.

Dr Cullen spoke then, "No, this is real. Vampires can't dream, and you are most certainly not dead, if you don't count being a vampire." He seemed to have recovered well from the initial shock and I could tell he was the calming presence in the family.

"So…this is real? And you're here?" I pointed to the man in front of me. "This is too much for one day…" I muttered, rubbing my temples and sat on the edge of a loveseat to my left, still keeping a distance from everyone in the room.

"It's been a while hasn't it, Izzy?"

I looked up at the man. "I take it you don't go by Major anymore then?" I asked him. I couldn't believe it. It had been more than a hundred years since I saw him and he looked exactly as handsome as he used to, his hair still as long and blonde.

"Okay, someone please tell me how you know each other!" Rosalie was back in the house now and was looking between us like the others.

I leaned back and smirked. "Old friends," I commented as I looked back at the man I knew as Major Whitlock and went to say something else when I saw his arms.

"We…oh my god! What happened to you!?" I leaped over the couch and grabbed his arms. Hundreds of scars went up and down his arms. Small crescent shapes, the mark of a vampire bite. I have seen them before, but never this many.

Alice butted in then. "He fought in the Southern Wars. He got the scars from the battle against General Thompson," she expressed confidently. He pulled his arms away from me and gave me a warning look.

"No, he didn't," I muttered.

"Excuse me?" Alice put her hand on her hip as if to say '_don't you dare go against me'._

"He didn't get them in the battle against Thompson." I said again, not looking at the Major. He didn't tell them the truth but I deserved it.

"What makes you say that?" She accused me. I could tell she was not happy from that tone in her voice. It was as if she was challenging me.

"Because I fought in that battle, that's why!" I yelled at her, allowing venom to be seethe in my voice and my eyes darkened telling her that I was not meant to be messed with.

I turned back to the Major to examine his many scars again.

"How did you get them then?" Alice asked in a small voice, not really wanting to hear the answer and know that what she had been told was a lie.

Whitlock sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "You might want to sit down." He gestured to the couches and looked at me.

I walked to the back of the room and leaned against the wall. I swore I could see a fraction of a smile on his face as I did so.

He began speaking directly to me. "After you left, Maria got really mad. Your plan was clever, I admit, but she somehow knew it was a trick. So she took it out on me. Telling me I was weak to let you get away. She attacked me. You knew how she was. She controlled me from then on, biting me often to remind me that I wasn't allowed to be weak again. It didn't help that she lost Peter either, mind you. That probably made the punishment worse.

"I stayed with her for another few years, always against my will. Peter and Charlotte came back for me and helped me escape. I stayed with them for a while but they were too…sickening to watch together, so I left. I met Alice," gesturing with his head towards the excited one on the couch, "in a bar a few days after I said I was leaving. She brought me hear to meet the Cullens and I've been here ever since." He sighed and ran his hand through his hair again. "No, I haven't been called Major in a long time, or Whitlock, for that matter. I pose as Rosalie's twin brother," gesturing over to her, "and go by Jasper Hale." He finished, looking a bit weird.

I contemplated his words. "Jasper…" I rolled his name over my tongue. "I think it's weird that I never actually learned your name."

He half smiled, "things are different now."

"Yes they are."

The family still seemed to be processing his words. They didn't understand a lot of it but understood the marks were from punishment now, rather than battle scars.

"I keep waiting for Maria to show up one day with a new army of newborns to come and kill me. It hasn't happened yet, though." He gave out a half-hearted laugh.

"Maria's dead." I spoke quietly, but he heard me.

"What!? Are you sure?" He asked but I could see relief flood slowly through him.

"Well yeah, I'm pretty sure. I threw her in the flames myself and no one else that I have killed has survived so yeah, I am pretty sure." I shrugged me shoulders.

"She's dead! Since when…how?" The shock was written clearly across his face.

"I dunno, a few decades ago I suppose. I don't keep track of time too well. She found me one day. I was being careless as I hunted and almost literally ran into her. She only had a few newborns around but they were distracted. You saw how I fought, and still fight. It wasn't as hard as you would think though. It was difficult, one of the hardest battles, she was no amateur. But soon into the fight she lost her advantage and well…" I dragged my finger across my neck. "I ripped her head off."

"Wow," He sat on the arm of the couch he was standing behind. "So she's really gone…thank god!" He laughed and I smiled at his antics.

"Okay, so the evil queen has gone! That's all great and all but am I the only one who is wondering about Isabella?" Emmett finally perked up, recovered from having his arse kicked and was now curious.

"Well, I suppose I owe an explanation." I started.

I explained how I was prey for Maria but ended up turning instead. I explained how I could beat everyone at sparring, including Jasper, which they all laughed at. I then talked about the _real_ version of the General Thompson battle and how I was going to be killed, my plan and how I ran away. I left out the part of the promise to Jasper of teaching him how I did it.

"I travelled a lot for the first decade, went to Europe. Saw ten wonders of the world and all that jazz, then came back here to America and travelled a bit. I was only back a few years when I saw Charlotte and Peter again. They thought I was dead but they never mentioned anything about you. I stayed with them for a short time but got restless and moved on again. Since then I started living among humans again, being extra careful, mostly doing night university classes and occasionally going to high school, like now, but I am technically too old. Is that why you aren't going to school?" I addressed Jasper.

The room got really awkward for a moment. "Umm…not actually I am enrolled I just took the day off." He spoke nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"Took the day off; why?"

"Umm…" He still looked nervous; he didn't want to answer me.

"Because he nearly attacked someone the other day, that's why!" Alice answered for him. I was starting to not like this girl.

"What do you mean 'attacked'?" I questioned.

"I mean, nearly pounced and ripped her throat out so he could drain their blood, attacked." She said, rather harshly. Jasper looked a bit ashamed.

"He lost control? That's doesn't seem like you at all!" I spoke the last part to him.

"I found converting to animal blood harder than everyone else. Still do actually," He admitted, regretfully.

"That doesn't make sense though. I don't understand." I was actually telling the truth.

"Well you see," Dr Cullen started, "A vampire craves human blood naturally and when he or she is not allowed that pleasure of feeding at it, and for so long, then they become accustomed to it. Change is difficult among vampires, so this makes it harder for Jasper to change his ways, and he still has outbursts," he explained.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm sorry for my language, but I don't believe that crap. I have travelled for a long time, met so many bloody vampires its ridiculous. Have you heard of Eleazer and Carmen?" I asked them, and they all looked up surprised.

"Yes, they are very good friends of ours actually," Dr Cullen answered for them.

"Well, did you know then that for the first, about, fifty years of the vampire life, they fed off humans?" They all looked taken aback.

"It was actually I that convinced them to hunt animals and live among humans. It took Irina and her other sisters a little longer."

"You know them?"

"You would be surprised how many vampires I know," I stated.

"Oh yeah, and by the way, if the Volturi ever show up here, I was never here!" I warned.

"What do you mean?" Edward questioned.

"That's a long story, definitely for another time. Anyway, back to Jasper!" He looked down at his feet.

"How did you ease him into drinking." I asked.

"We took him out hunting, only animals, and no humans. I suppose, we just gradually introduced him to animals after a while." Dr Cullen answered again.

"Oh boy,' I rubbed my temples again. Too much stress for one day. "I take it the rest of you started since you changed?" They all nodded. "So he is the first you needed to convert?" They nodded again.

I sighed and rubbed my face, "Well, I don't mean to offend you," _much_, I added as a thought, "but you did it wrong. This may sound weird to you but it is actually not that hard to convert to animal blood."

I held up a hand at their protesting faces. "I know you will all disagree with me, but when you visited Carmen and Eleazer, did they really look like they were struggling from bloodlust after they spent the majority of their life feeding from humans. It doesn't seem like that too me. They seem to be perfectly in control.

"And do you want to know why? I believe you guys are telling Jasper to try fighting the side of Jasper that fed off blood for so long. Well, I will tell you now that will only make him want it more.

"What most vampires don't believe is that you are one person, well technically, vampire. You may sometimes feel like you are being taken over by something else, an animal, some people call it your dark side or the monster in us, and that's not completely wrong, but it's not exactly correct either. You are yourself; even as a human you had a bad side and a good one. You were normal and caring, a gentleman or a lady, complete control over your body.

"But you always have a part of you that wants to rebel or desire things that society may not deem 'proper'. It's the part that acts without thinking about what you are about to do or every little consequence that may follow. It's irrational and sometimes dangerous. So many people separate those parts, thinking that one is good and the other is evil." They all seemed engaged in my speech so I continued.

"The more you try to block out the part of you that thirsts for blood, the more it will 'take control' of your body. The only way, and I seriously mean only, to convert yourself is to_ want_ to change. Your mind needs to completely accept that."

Dr Cullen considered this. I figured he was the oldest and the figure head of his 'family.' "I understand what you are saying. But if you don't mind me asking, how did you convert? You seem like someone to study others and not yourself for your knowledge."

I nodded in agreement. "Yes, the only time I study myself is my gift, which I will explain later." I paused considering how I would answer his question. "I didn't need converting."

"What do you mean?" Mrs Cullen finally spoke up.

"Exactly what I said."

"If you fought alongside Jasper, you would have fed off humans, so how is it that you don't need converting?" Mrs Cullen said, more strongly this time.

"Ah…" I understood. They thought I was like Jasper. "You need to understand that I have only ever killed one person in my entire existence, well technically a few more than that, but people never seem to count vampires." I was rambling. "Anyway, I was so traumatised after killing that man," I shuddered in the memory, for the first time showing emotion in my face. "I was so traumatised that I deprived myself from eating for a while, you remember that?" I asked Jasper.

Realisation flashed across his face. "Yeah, I didn't know what was going on though, by that point, I had other newborns to worry about."

"Well, that was why. But one day, I needed a training session with Jasper, or I knew him as Major. I knew I was too weak to fight him so I walked out of camp to try and find a way to feed without killing someone. I became so weak in the forest that I actually collapsed and blacked out against a tree." They all looked shocked by this.

"I know right? An unconscious vampire! Who knew? Anyway," I was getting distracted again, "My body woke up on its own and started working for me all of a sudden. I didn't mentally realise what was going on until I could feel the blood trickling down my throat and I certainly didn't realise until after I was done that I was feeding off an animal!" I sighed loudly. I was getting sick of talking.

"I escaped soon after so I didn't have to worry about it much from then on."

They were still absorbing the information that I gave them so I continued again.

"Anyway, none of that is really my point, but I can help Jasper if you let me! My point is…the reason why I showed up here and exposed myself," _which I will regret later, _I added as a thought, "is because I actually do need your help."

"Oh yes, I do believe that was our introduction, wasn't it? We will hear you out but please don't expect anything from us, as of yet." Carlisle spoke for the clan.

"It's okay, but I am almost positive that you will help me. If affects you as well." They didn't look convinced but I continued anyway.

"So, my problem started about sixty years ago. I was still going through my journey of discovering my gift, which I will explain as I go. I met a few vampires during my travels, which, like a lot of other vampires I have met in the past, were curious about my eyes and my diet. I explained it to them and they seemed interested for a while. We stayed together for about a year but eventually they got bored. One of them was a hunter.

"They decided that animal blood wasn't their thing, I understood and we went our separate ways. A few months later, one of them found me and warned me that they were coming to kill me. We did fight, they had a few poorly trained newborns, but we managed to eliminate those easily. I also managed to kill the hunter and the woman, his mate, is now really pissed…so, she's coming after me and I don't think I can do it on my own this time."

I was seriously over talking; my leg was bouncing up and down as I sat on the couch, waiting impatiently until I could train again.

"Wow…well, if you say that you beat her the first time, why do you need our help now?"

"Because I've been told that she's bringing an army, an army bigger than the last time. And that means over fifty blood-deprived and out of control newborn vampires."

Silence…I could almost hear the crickets.

"So…more than fifty thirsty vampires coming here…." They seemed to catch on.

"Well then," Jasper smirked; I could see parts of his old self, Major Whitlock, shinning through his eyes.

"I guess we better start training."


	12. Chapter 11

**I AM SO SORRY! I swear I wrote this chapter about 8 times. Between reformatting my laptop, losing my hard-drive and just plain forgetting to save it, I just couldn't post it! Anyways, nearly a year later here is the next chapter! (I think my New Year's resolution this year will be to update more! Who agrees?)**

_I am a fighter, it's in my DNA_

_Step by step, and break by break, nobody stopping me_

_Quit try to shoot me down, 'cause I'm invincible_

_I think you made a mistake, I am warrior_

Warrior – Havana Brown

Chapter 11

_PREVIOUSLY_

"_Why do you need our help now?"_

_"Because I've been told that she's bringing an army, an army bigger than the last time."_

_"Well then," Jasper smirked; "I guess we better start training."_

Carlisle led his 'family' and I through the house to what I presume is the back door, the house was so big I didn't know where I was anymore.

Alice and Rosalie took off running to the trees into the forest straight away. I didn't think they liked me much. But who could blame them? I didn't exactly behave very nicely when I first arrived.

Esme and Edward waited a moment before turning and running. My sense told me that Edward was very fast…the fastest in their family at least. But I knew if it came down to it I would beat him. That made me smile.

"Why do you look so pleased with yourself?" Jasper (still weird calling him that) walked from behind me closer to the tree line, not taking his eyes off me.

"Nothing, just thinking," I smile again, mischievously.

"Thinking? Sounds dangerous," he teased.

"Whatever," I tactfully throw my hair over my shoulder and walk over to Carlisle who was standing a few metres observing me. I should feel uncomfortable but I knew I wasn't in any danger.

"So where exactly are we going?" I asked him.

"There's a large clearing a few miles from here where we play baseball, it should be useful for training as well, and hopefully large enough to host this invasion we are having," he explains.

"Baseball? You play baseball?"

"There a problem with that?" Jasper says defensively, crossing his arms.

"No, not at all…it's just so…normal," and I have been on the run for over a hundred years so normal is unheard of in my life.

"I take it you don't do normal much," he presumed…correctly unfortunately.

"You think?! How do you even play? Wouldn't you break the bats and baseballs or make too much noise?" I asked genuinely curious, looking between them both.

"Well, we had the bats made specially, so they are strong enough to bare the force we use on them. Same with the baseballs. And with the noise, well, we only play during a thunder storm to disguise the sounds," Carlisle explained whilst starting to walk towards the trees. He stopped and said, "We should probably go, they are most likely waiting for us." And with that he ran off into the trees.

I sighed, not really ready to face reality yet. I turned to Whitlock, I mean, Jasper, who was studying me again. Unlike Carlisle, Jasper was starting to make me uncomfortable.

"So, ready to go Major?" I teased elbowing him in the side with a smile.

He looked down, smiling and shaking his head, "Major, so long…" he muttered, "I am always ready."

We held gazes for a moment, my eyes flickered to the trees for a second but I knew he was having the same thought as me.

"Race?" I asked, grinning again.

"Always."

We both turned and faced the trees. "Sure you won't get lost?" He taunted playfully.

"Ha, you wish," my eyes narrowed at him before looking back at the trees. I inhaled, smelling the scent left by the other vampire's only minutes ago. That would be my path.

"Ready?" He crouched.

"Set," I leaned slightly forward, preparing myself for a race I had wanted since he bested me the last time.

"GO!" he yelled and sped off quickly.

I laughed at his antics. _Men. Seriously._

I sped off after him, my speed already fast enough that I caught up to him within milliseconds. The trees disappeared into smudges of brown and green, my vampire sight was the only thing keeping me from running into one. I turned to Jasper and noticed a crease between his brows. He was seriously annoyed I caught up with him.

"I don't know what you find so amusing, but whatever it is, you won't be laughing at it for long," he sped up again, jumping over a log and dodging between some closely spaced trees. I followed still amused that he thinks he can win. He has been cooped up for too long inside his mansion, whereas I have been running free and away from other vampires for a hundred years. He really is delusional.

"I don't think so Whitlock," I muttered and boosted my speed yet again.

I started gaining on him, slower than before but I still made decent ground. I inhaled again and knew we were getting closer. I pumped my legs and arms until even I couldn't see them as nothing other than a blur.

I flew past Jasper, and he could not hide the shock on his face, which made me laugh even more. I dodged more trees before I saw a light up ahead. Seconds later I burst from the trees into the clearing. The sun was just rising now, coming over the treetops. The first time I had seen the sun since moving to Forks.

I let it hit my face. I spread my arms out as if to absorb the sunlight and feel the heat. I closed my eyes and breathed in. I relaxed quickly letting these few moments of freedom I had fill me up with pleasure. I exhaled and opened my eyes, showing the 'sparkles' my diamond skin let off.

Jasper was at the tree line, leaning against one of the trees after having arrived just after I did. I could feel his eyes on me but I didn't want to take mine off the sun yet. This was too rare a moment.

I could hear impatient sighs from somewhere on my left. It sounded like it came from Rosalie or Alice. Of course, they would me impatient with me.

I turned to Jasper in the woods. He was looking at me (again, but I wasn't surprised by now) but it was different, fond almost. He stood up straight and walked out of the shade of the trees. The sun hit him on a perfect angle, his diamond skin let off the most beautiful sight. Wait, did I just say beautiful? _Get it together Izzy, now is not the time._ But I couldn't help but stare. His wavy hair hung perfectly around his face, even his battle scars, and the ones put their by Maria, looked like they belonged. _Oh who am I kidding, you still feel the same as when he kissed you for the first time. Dammit now I'm all embarrassed and he'll know. I hate empaths. _

He raised his brow at me, questioning my sudden change of emotions but I let it go with a shrug. I turned towards the others who stood off roughly in the middle of the clearing. Edward and Emmett looked like they were play fighting, pushing each other back and forth. Rosalie and Alice were taking it in turns to glare at me. Esme and Carlisle were quietly talking to each other, hands locked together as well as their gazes. Jasper walked over to them, reaching them just before me.

"I win!" I announced to him playfully, elbowing him again.

"This time," he said mysteriously. I gave him a questioning but shook away the weird feeling I got.

"So let's get this training started!" Emmett looked way too excited for preparation for a battle.

Jasper seemed to have the same idea. "Why are you so excited here? Newborns are not something to take lightly. Yeah sure, they don't have much education on the skilful fighting part, but they will best you in strength and even sometimes speed. Don't ever let down your guard or you will die. That is a fact. Izzy?" He turns to me, expecting me to take over.

I just stand there with my arms crossed and my eyebrow raised. "Nah, you've got this. It's nice to see the old Major back in action." If vampires could blush I swear he would be right now. "It's kinda hot actually," I added, regretting it immediately.

_Shit, Iz, when did you turn into such a girl? You are better than this cheesy flirting. _

Thanks to whatever gods there are, Jasper just shrugged and accepted the compliment. He turned to me again and said, "Seriously, you can take it from here, it has been a while…" he trailed off.

I just nodded and launched right into action. "Okay, so we all know that newborns have a few advantages, their strength being the main one. But they have weaknesses as well. They are easily distracted, can't focus on more than one thing at once, especially when in attack mode, as I call it. They know they are strong so they will heavily rely on that. And we will also rely on them relying on them using their strength…on using their strength the most…whatever you know what I mean." I stopped for a moment to gather my wits and my proper use grammar.

"So think for now, we'll pair up and see if we can practise overcoming the other without the use of brutal strength." Emmett looked slightly disappointed. "Just for now so I can see how you guys fight, then we'll branch off from there."

They all seemed okay with this, no surprise Alice and Rosalie seemed reluctant to follow my instructions but they walked off and started sparing together. Carlisle and Edward walked off together as well, and Esme with Emmett. This worried me for a bit, Esme vs. Emmett and his strength. That is until I watched her fight. She was good. Like really good. Surprisingly so. She was a very logical fighter, never letting Emmett make contact and only going for her own blows when she knew they would land. Alice and Rosalie were interesting to watch as they both relied on flexibility to avoid the other, but it was clear that Alice had the upper hand with her psychic abilities. Rosalie's attitude wasn't letting it make a whole lot of difference which pleased me. Similarly, Edward and Carlisle were well matched. Carlisle had had a lifetime of observing others and the anatomy of a human being a doctor, so knew when and where to strike. Edward, of course, had his speed and mind reading, with made him ruthless. I was going to enjoy having him on my side.

I walked around the clearing, occasionally ducking or sidestepping when various fights got intense. It only took about ten minutes before Jasper plucked up the courage to ask me, "So do you want to fight? You know, show them how it is done?" I turned and smirked at him.

"I thought you would never ask."

And I pounced.

Jasper was ready. As I reached for his throat in mid air, he grabbed my shoulders and threw me over him backwards. I flipped through the air and landed on my feet, cat-like on the ground. He ran forwards and went to kick me backwards but I grabbed his leg in mid air and flipped him backwards as well. Before he landed on the ground, I kicked him in the stomach and watched him stagger back and few feet before going for me again. I parried the punches he threw, blocked them and sent out a few of my own. This continued for a while, adding a few kicks here and there. Neither of us seemed to be gaining any ground so I let one of his punches land and it flew me backwards.

I flung my body backwards with the blow doing a few backflips before landing on my feet again. He didn't let me take a moment, rather charged again, arms out to grab my waist, but I jumped up and wrapped my legs around his neck as he drew closer. He stopped running realising he couldn't see. I swung my body backwards, flipping both of his on the ground, and I released him just as he landed with a thud on the dirt. I quickly flipped him over before he could react and pulled his arms away behind his body, straddling his back.

I leaned forward, fangs sharpening and growing out of my mouth. I pulled his arms backward so I could get a good view of this neck and let my mouth over it, gently dragging my fangs over the skin there. I breathed in and out on this neck, neither of us moved. I closed my mouth and placed a small kiss on his neck. He shivered, not from the cold.

I swung my leg over him and turned him over again. I held my hand out to him. Cautiously he took it and I began to pull him up. Shock went through me as he pulled me back down and rolled us so he was on top of me. He lowered his mouth to my neck also, dragging his fangs along my skin.

"Killed you," he whispered, smiling against my skin.

"I killed you first," I pushed him off me and leaned on my elbows. He just laughed and helped me up (for real this time).

We both turned around to watch the rest of the 'family' fighting but were instead greeted by their awed faces after having watched us fight.

"What?" I was feeling a bit self-conscious now. Never had unexperienced vampires watched me fight so having awestruck faces was a new thing.

"Whoa…" Emmett was the first to speak. "I am now regretting thinking I could beat you in a fight."

I laughed half-heartedly. I'm still not really good at accepting compliments.

I heard a tinkle of laughter from somewhere behind Emmett. He turned around and we saw Alice nearly rolling on the ground from laughing so hard.

"You beat Jasper!" She kept laughing uncontrollably, "Ha, you should have seen his face!" She continued laughing. I looked at Rosalie who was smiling as well but seemed to have too much pride to be laughing.

Everyone else seemed pleased as well, except Edward who looked slightly scared but I suppose that was expected. I did just beat the best fighter in their family.

"Yeah well, I'm sure he's just a little bit out of practise," I glanced at Jasper as he was shaking his head.

"You could always beat me Izzy, you know that." I smiled. _It must KILL him to admit that._

"Yeah, well I don't want to hurt your pride."

"Too late," he muttered under his breath.

"What?"

"Nothing," he walked over to the rest of the family, dismissing the conversation.

"So how did we do Bella?" Emmett piped up again, looking eager to either keep fighting or hear some praise about his skills.

"I think you did well for now. You all have a pretty basic knowledge of defence and offence and you all do really well one on one, so that is really good. However, we need to keep in mind that there will be fifty newborns coming here. Eight versus fifty. We are _very_ outnumbered. So we need to work on fighting multiple attackers at once." I crossed my arms, thinking training strategies. My thoughts were racing back into battle mode very quickly.

"And we need to make sure that we know the most important rules for fighting against newborns before we begin again." I paused. "Actually, I would rather tell them to you as you fight…its more fun that way." I smirked. _Well, more fun for me at least. _I cleared my throat trying to get back on track.

"Okay, so this how this is gonna go."


	13. Chapter 12

_What now? I just can't figure it out  
>What now? I guess I'll just wait it out<em>  
>What Now - Rihanna<p>

Chapter 12

_PREVIOUSLY  
>"So how did we do Bella?"<br>"We are _very_ outnumbered…we need to work on fighting multiple attackers at once...we need to make sure that we know the most important rules for fighting against newborns. Okay, so this how this is gonna go."_

"Too make this the best and most accurate we can, we are going to take it in turns to be attacked. One of us eight will be attacked whilst the other seven will be the attacker's. If we were to make the upcoming battle as equally distributed we each need to kill approximately six or seven newborns each so this is a pretty good number to practise with."

They all seemed to be following in theory but maybe some practical explanation was necessary also.

"If it makes it easier, I will be the one to be attacked first so I can show you what I mean," I offered.

Most of them nodded in agreement to my suggestion.

"Awesome. Alright, so remember, to keep this training as accurate as possible, try and use your strength the most and act like a newborn, savage and out of control," I added.

I saw Emmett crack his knuckles, smirking and looking like he finally belonged. "Awesome."

I just rolled my eyes and wandered a good distance away to make sure I had time to react in case one of them wanted to go with the 'surprise attack'. Mind you, it _is_ very hard to surprise me.

"Okay so whenever you are read…" I was cut off by a body colliding with mine, making me choke on my words. "Argghhh…"

The person who attacked me had their arms around my waist, lifted me up so I was dangling hopelessly in the air. The vampire imitated a squeezing motion but didn't squeeze hard enough to really hurt me.

"Rule number one, never let them get their arms around you, they'll crush you instantly." Jasper's southern drawl was evident in my ear as he spoke to his family.

I smirked; glad he couldn't see my face, not caring if he read my emotions. "Rule number two," I elbowed Jasper's head and twisted around so I could flip his body and kick his body flying. I catch his body before it landed and wrapped my hands around his neck imitating a kill.

"Never go for the obvious kill." I smirked at him again.

He rolled his eyes as I released him. I turned back to the others to see if they were ready to join in yet. Of course though, Jasper pounced when I turned. He slammed me right into the ground. I rolled us over so I wasn't on the bottom. I leaned in again and mock ripped his head off with my fangs.

"Rule number three?" Jasper questioned, nudging me up so he could stand again.

"Never turn your back on your opponent," I said, hanging my head like I was in trouble. I looked up at Jasper and we both shared a chuckle.

"Now those weren't the rules you taught me when I first started were they?" I smirked at him as we circled again, aware of his family's eyes on the two of us.

An unknown emotion flickered across his face, pain or something similar, as if he was guilty for remembering. "Not exactly."

I smirked again. "Of course, they weren't for fighting newborns. They were skills for newborns to learn, survival skills for those who have no control."

I charged at him, we started throwing kicking and punches.

"Don't hold back…never lose focus," I yelled whilst trying to gain ground. I head butted him and sent him flying backwards.

Jasper looked surprised and reached up to rub his forehead.

"Feel no pain," I finished, smug and proud of myself.

He rolled his eyes, I knew he was reading what I was feeling, but he made no protest, then again he did not exactly agree.

"Yes well, things were different back then weren't they," he muttered.

"Yeah," I drifted off. "Okay, so who wants to go first?" I offer the other Cullen's, gesturing to the field around us all.

Edward went first, followed by Alice, Carlisle and Rosalie. Each took it in turns to be attacked and do the attacking. Sometimes I joined in, to increase the challenge, but mostly I observed. I needed to know whether we actually have a chance or not.

"It's not enough," I whispered, watching Esme, the final Cullen, spar and beat up, rather comically I might add, the rest of the Cullen's.

Jasper and I locked gazes from across the field. He could feel my concern, despair; all of the negativity that I had just felt. He flashed to my side in an instant.

"What's wrong?"

I turned to him, for a moment I was confused of his motives and apart of me felt flattered…then I woke up from that illusion. "It won't be enough."

His eyebrows creased as he noticed the same thing. "Oh…that might be a problem."

I raised my eyebrow. "No shit."

"Sorry," he looked down in embarrassment. "So what else can we do?"

"I don't know. All we need is just a few more fighters, and that's presuming there are no casualties…" I trailed off, not wanting to think about the death of any of these vampires in front of me. Regardless of how long I had known them, I didn't want anybody to get hurt. _Especially because all this mess is my fault. _

Jasper was thinking very intently. I looked over at Edward who was also watching Jasper, and I presume also reading his thoughts. They seemed to exchange a silent conversation, with Edward only shrugging or shaking and nodding his head.

"What?" I asked Jasper, looking back and forth between the two. "What are you thinking?"

Edward nods his head towards Jasper in silent agreement. He then stops the others from fighting.

Jasper turns towards me. "I think I might have an idea…" he trails of in uncertainty. He glances over at the Cullen's who look expectantly at him from across the clearing.

"What…come on tell me!" This dramatic unknowing was eating at me.

"We know a few who might be willing to help, but…"

"But what, goddammit!" Frustration did not begin to describe what I was feeling.

"It might be dangerous, and we need to keep in mind that they hate us, loath may be more accurate actually."

I pinched the bridge of my nose, "Do you want to get punched? Because I am not afraid to punch you…right now."

"Werewolves, we might be able to get there help."

"You know werewolves!? As in, turning at full moon, deadly to vampire's werewolves?" I was horrified.

"No, no, the Volturi wiped them out decades ago. These wolves are more like shape shifters, but still just as dangerous."

"But they hate you? Why do you think they would help us?"

"Because their sole purpose is to be guardians, protectors of humans," Carlisle interrupted and walked over to us.

"So if there is a potential threat to their tribes safety or even the safety of humans in their nearby community, it is their job and own personal desire to step in and stop the threat. Or in this case," I interrupted Jasper.

"Lend us their help in protecting said community." I frowned, considering the proposal.

"How many of them are there? How well can they fight? How much experience have they had? What if they…" This time, Jasper interrupted me.

"Calm down, Iz. Down worry about it." Jasper looked over at Carlisle for assistance. I looked between them waiting for one of them to respond.

Carlisle eventually spoke. "We are unsure of their numbers, they like to keep their secrets for their own protection which is understandable. We know they are capable fighters, its their instinct to fight and it will protect them, regardless of training, though training, I'm sure, will add to their skill levels. They have, however, had limited experience, especially with us living here. If any stray vampires come past, it depends on whether they come back on our land or theirs to see what happens and whether that vampire is eliminated."

_Our land…their land._ It wasn't making complete sense. "Hang on, so they have their own designated land? And if they 'eliminate'" I raised my hands, indicating quotation marks, "any vampires who come by, why haven't they attacked you?"

"Ah I see. We have come to an agreement with their Alpha of a hundred years ago. Us, Cullen's, may live here as long as we do not bite a human. Being animal drinkers, this hasn't been an issue. We have divided the local areas between us and set clear borders. If we enter their land, they have the immediate right to attack, as it means that we have broken the treaty."

"I see."

We all remained silent for a moment. I believe they were waiting for me to process the information.

"So how do we approach them then?"

"We don't communicate often. I'm sure if we walk close enough to their border line, they will smell us and send a representative…or three. Safety in numbers." Edward shared. I nodded in his direction.

"So, when can we do this? Now?"

Alice's tinkling laugh greeted my ears. "Of course not! It's the middle of the day! They hate vampires, why would they want to see us all sparkling around the place. We'll go this evening, early enough so they don't get suspicious and late enough so that they don't get all freaked out by our skin." Alice stated matter-of-factly.

"Oh okay then, that could work too then, wait, did you say middle of the day?!" I looked up at the sun and realised it was indeed right over our heads. "Oh crap! School! We totally just ditched! And I haven't told Charlie, oh dear lord I am in trouble…" I muttered, pinching my nose and shaking my head in disbelief.

Again, I was greeted by the sounds of them laughing.

"What now?"

"It's sunny today. Did you really plan on going to school? You could be exposed!" Rosalie finally contributed something to the group.

"Huh," I realised they didn't have my advantage, "I keep forgetting you guys are limited. I can just flick off the whole sparkles thing; the interacting with humans has never been a problem."

Rosalie sighed, "You have no idea how lucky you are."

I chose to ignore her; I didn't really want to get into that argument right now.

"So, if we have to wait until tonight, what are we going to do now? I think that we've done enough training, for now of course, not that you can ever have enough training…" I trailed off when I realised I was rambling.

"Isabella! Calm down! There is always something to do around here," Carlisle comforted.

I smiled awkwardly, "Right, of course." If I was human, or pretending to be, I would be blushing right now.

"So…" Jasper jumped in to save me the awkwardness. "Is anyone up for a hunt?"

"Yep, sounds good to me," Edward chimed in. A few others nodded in agreement as well.

"Alright, let's go!" Jasper said, with false excitement.

I smiled at him gratefully as the others began running away across the field. Jasper turned to follow, starting slowly, as if waiting for me. I smiled at his disappearing back and started after him. Of course, it took me about half a second to catch up.

"Thankyou," I muttered quietly.

"What for?"

"Saving my awkward ass back there," I replied, avoiding his eyes.

He laughed, "You're welcome, anytime. It's my pleasure to save a damsel in distress like yourself."

I rolled my eyes, "Oh you wish." He laughed again.

"So, wanna race again?" I asked.

"And embarrass myself by being beaten by a girl again? No thanks." I smiled at his response.

"Actually, this would be a good time to begin your control training, if you could call it training."

"Maybe, but I don't want to distract myself with the concentration just yet. Maybe let's get through tonight first, then maybe the battle? I don't have that much faith in myself," He admitted reluctantly.

"You make it sound like I'll be torturing you, and I have confidence in you. But, I do however see your point. So, we will wait?"

"We'll wait."

"Okay."

We continued running until we caught the scent of a few deer in the distance. We took off, increasing speed, sprung and snapped the necks of the deer before desperately sinking our fangs into its flesh.

"Ah, that's better," My eyes glowed golden and I could see Jaspers were the same. I stared into their depths, pools like a liquid sunrise.

We continued like that for hours. Randomly running around, every now and then attacking a deer or three. It wasn't until the sun was setting we realised how long we had been out. Red streaks started lighting up the sky and we broke out of our little bubble.

"We better head back."

I didn't have to be an empath to feel Jaspers disappointment. "Yeah I guess."

Our trip back to the house was a lot slower than the rest of the day had been. Neither of us really wanted to go back to reality. It was weird, but we had enjoyed our time alone together.

By the time we got back to the house, everyone else was waiting by the back porch, impatiently. After we apologized, we all set off once again, this time in a different direction. A place I had never been, for good reason I didn't realise until today. It clicked that if I had gone there, I would have set off the wolves and they would have come after me. Thank god I stayed away; otherwise I would probably be dead.

We got to the border within a few minutes.

"So, how exactly do we let them know we are here?" I asked as we stopped our run.

"Oh don't worry, they'll smell us." Emmett answered this time. Edward was alert, reading thoughts of those in the far distance. Alice looked upset, Esme reached over to comfort her.

With creased eyebrows of confusion I muttered to Jasper, "What's wrong with her?"

He looked over to where I gestured, "Oh, she's just uncomfortable because her vision is blocked. She can't seen the wolves so she can't see any of our futures."

"Oh, makes sense." I was actually sympathetic. It must be awful not being able to use your gift.

"They're coming," Edward's voice rang out loudly in the silence of the night.

We walked into a triangle formation, Carlisle at front, with Esme, Alice, Emmett and Rosalie on his right. On his left was Edward, Jasper and myself. I took a deep breath in. I was terrified, but it wasn't something I was proud of, so I kept it to myself. I knew I wasn't in any immediate danger because my subconscious wasn't pulling me away. I breathed in again, deeper to try to calm down.

"Here we go," Edward muttered. The wind shifted and I smelt them, the wet dog stench greeted my nose in disgust.

"Oh…" I gasped, pulling faces at the smell. I could see Rosalie smile out the corner of my eye. They were all obviously expecting the smell.

Jasper tensed in front of me, even Esme was showing signs of fear. Carlisle was the only one unaffected it seems.

At first I didn't understand their fear, but when I first saw the wolves coming out of the tree line, I knew exactly what they were thinking.

They were huge! Wolves the size of bears, teeth larger than any knife I had ever seen, and probably more deadly. There were four of them. The one in front must be the alpha as it was easily the largest, its reddish brown coat a huge contrast to the black and grey wolves on his flank.

"Good evening. I hope we didn't interrupt anything on the reserve. We are here to purely discuss business which you will be both interested and astounded to hear." Carlisle broke the silence.

"Good evening to yourself as well. We are interested in what you want, it's been a while." Edward spoke afterward, almost in a trance, as the translator I figured.

"As you are probably aware, there is a new vampire in town at the moment. Her name is Isabella and she is standing before us. Unfortunately, despite trying to find peace she has a past which has followed her. A past we need your help in defeating."

"Interesting…so, who is this Isabella?" Edward translated.

"That would be me," I boldly stepped forward, even surprised at my own confidence. The alpha turned his head towards me and looked me up and down. I felt so self-conscious.

That was, at least, until my eyes met his.


	14. Chapter 13

**Hello Hello, all my lovely readers!**

***Hides under bed* please do not kill me, I know it has been FOREVER since I have updated, and well, I don't think I can apologise enough for that. I have no real excuse and I can give you no more promises of updating but, yet again, I can try. **

**This story is still hilarious (I think) to write so, do not fear, I am not giving up on it. Anyways, back to reading then! Hope you enjoy! **

I wanna know, can you show me  
>I wanna know about these strangers like me<br>Tell me more, please show me  
>Something's familiar about these strangers like me<br>_Strangers Like Me - Phil Collins _

Chapter 13

_PREVIOUSLY_

_"__We are _very_ outnumbered…_

_…__Werewolves, we might be able to get their help…_

_…__As you are probably aware, there is a new vampire in town at the moment…_

_…__we need your help…_

_…__The alpha turned his head towards me…_

_…__my eyes met his."_

When his eyes met mine I could see this glimmer of...realisation within them. That only caused anxiety to increase within me. Then, very abruptly the brown wolf turned back into the trees and left.

"What...did I do something wrong?" I asked, directed half at the wolves and half at Edward, our translator.

"No."

I waited for an explanation.

"Then why...?" I trailed off.

"He wants to speak to you in person. He's going to phase." He replied after a long pause. If I could sweat right now I would be, if I had a heart it would be pumping so fast and if i needed to breathe they would be short and shallow. I couldn't help but think _holy shit this is the end, isn't it? He wants to kill me…_

I shook those thoughts out of my head, they couldn't kill me, it's almost impossible and besides, my instincts aren't telling me to run so it must be okay...I hope.

"Stop stressing, it'll be fine," Edward tried to reassure, failing miserably.

I sighed sarcastically, "And how would you know that? Just because you can read their minds doesn't mean they don't know that! And they could be smart about it and not make up their minds straight away! They could be a lot smarter than you think!" I spoke in a slightly raised whisper, wanting to yell in his face but not wanting the werewolves to be offended or feel the need to get defensive.

"Oh pfft, stop being so dramatic," Alice spoke under her breath, quiet enough for only us to hear.

I sent her the best death glare I could, which worked as I could visibly see her shrink backwards. _Yeah, that's what I thought...you'll think before you speak next time._ Edward have me a funny look from where he was standing. _What? Don't given me that, you now I am right!_ He shrugged and went back to looking at the tree lines where the wolf disappeared.

I sighed, "Jeez how long does it take to phase?" I crossed my arms over my chest.

The wolves left in front of me started growling, and I could nearly feel the ground vibrate underneath them.

_That's actually really cool. _I smirked.

"What? You wanna show me what a big bad wolf you are?" I snickered.

"Don't tempt them, you'll only encourage them more to rip your head off."

I jumped, looking away from the wolves to the huge man walking up from behind who had startled me, a fact which surprised me, it was hard to catch me by surprise. Jasper's half smile on his face told me he thought me being caught unawares was particularly hilarious to him. I tried as best as I could to shoot him a wave of anger, which only brought his half smile into a full grin.

"So, what is this you're telling me about this danger?" The wolf man broke the silence.

The whole Cullen clan turned to me expectantly. I looked at them with raised eyebrows. Carlisle motioned for me to come forward.

"Thanks guys, way to throw me under the bus..." I muttered to myself.

"We won't bite," the wolf man winked at me. I just raised my eyebrows and rolled my eyes in response.

"I don't usually poor my heart out to strangers. You are?" I nudged, playfully.

The wolf man laughed and shook his head. _Well, at least he's not ripping my head off yet. _"Well, normally, I don't give me name to blood suckers bringing threats to everyone I care about. But you know, I'll make an exception." He smirked.

I rolled my eyes before he continued, "Its Jacob."

"Jacob, alright."

"So…you require some sort of help?" He prodded.

"Oh, yes, right. So…" I retold the events of the last few days, trying not to make it sound too dramatic, I valued keeping my head attached to the rest of my body. But, also, not downplaying it too much, so they know that we needed their help.

"So, to summarise, lots of blood suckers on their way here right now, and you guys can't deal with your mess on your own, so you need our help to that less of you die and hopefully less of the innocents in this town also do not die. Does that sum it up alright?" Jacob smirked, which was weird because he then pulled this serious thinking face; and ran back into the trees.

"Lovely," I sighed. "Holding a conversation with a bunch of wolves should not be this difficult." I heard growling from all around me. "What? Not like you can talk? Literally. You can't talk right now!"

"Isabella," Carlisle looked me and shook his head. "Don't anger them, we need their help." He stared me down.

I sighed, "Right okay, sorry." I shifted my weight and began tapping my foot impatiently. I could see Carlisle roll his eyes frustrated before calmly waiting for the return of Jacob.

The rustling of leaves announced his return. Back in wolf form now, his brown fur shone in the light of twilight. Edward began translating again.

"They need time to process this information. He says he will call a meeting and speak with the pack before giving us an answer. We will meet them here again this time tomorrow."

I nodded. "Seems reasonable, but can i just add this one thing. I know at this point you all hate me cause, yeah I know I'm a bitch and really hard to get along with. But just ignore that, because, yes this is entirely my fault, but now the issue is bigger than us all. So yeah. I hope you decide to help us." I trailed off, my confidence wavering a bit towards the end of my little speech.

On behalf of all of us, Carlisle added, "Thank you. See you tomorrow eve." He then nodded at our group and they all turned and started walking past the first layer of trees. I turned to follow them, but a sharp but low growl stopped me where I was. I looked back to see who growled and was slightly surprised to see the wolf to the left of Jacob take a few steps forward as if about to run after us.

Edward broke the tension and laughed.

"What?" I asked him. "What are they thinking?" I tried to use my gift to find out but to no avail. _Okay, so they don't want to kill me…doesn't tell me much though. _

"They wish to speak to you," Edward shared. He glanced over at Carlisle who had stopped at the tree line to, I guess, supervise the situation. Carlisle nodded at Edward, as if giving silent permission for him to continue.

"They wish to speak with you, alone," Edward finished.

I stood silent for a moment. Edward looked at me uneasily, and the wolf next to Jacob tilted his head to the side, as if challenging me. I narrowed my eyes at him before turning to Edward and Carlisle to give my answer.

"I'll go."

I turned back to the wolves, head held high and continued.

"But I thought you had some kind of rule about keeping out vampires?"

Edward translated once again, "We do; but in this circumstance we are willing to make an exception."

I raised an eyebrow at the wolves, my eyes never leaving them. My trust only extending so far.

"Alright then. I hope you're going to change back again, unless I'm allowed to bring along my translator?" I smirked.

Edward almost laughed, "No, I'm not allowed. You must go alone," he stated with finality.

I shrugged my shoulders in acceptance. I took a few steps towards the wolves before turning back. At the tree line, i noticed Carlisle had left and Edward was in the process of moving away. But clearly, just under the first shadows, I could se two golden eyes staring back at me, caution filled in his eyes.

I mouthed the word, _go,_ towards Jasper. His eyebrows creased in concern. Out loud this time, I spoke again.

"Leave!"

His eyes finally leaving me, he turned and took a few steps in the opposite direction. He turned back and murmured under his breath.

"Be careful."

My lips curled into a slight smile. "Don't worry about me, Major."

With a slight shake of his head, he finally turned away and ran off through the trees.

Letting out a sigh, I turned back to the wolves, and noticed that Jacob had disappeared again. _Well, geez, I need to pay more attention. What else have I missed. _Shaking my head at myself, I took the last few steps over to where the other wolves had gathered in an almost semi circle.

"So, into the woods we go?" I tried to joke, but of course the wolves did not, or could not respond.

"Ha! Good luck with that! These guys would never laugh at a stinking leeches joke." Jacob came walking back through the trees again, in human form this time, only wearing a pair of shorts. I gave him a brief once over, _No harm, just appreciating a fine male specimen._

"No offence, of course." Jacob looked wary.

"Huh? Oh, right. The leech joke," I shrugged, "I've had a lot worse. Vampires aren't exactly the most popular supernatural creature in the world."

The wolves let out a low growl in agreement.

"Would it make you feel better if I did this?"

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath in and felt the change in my body. My body started to project heat, my heart started beating; slowly at first, then more steady, giving me a definite pulse, which I'm sure the wolves could hear.

I opened my eyes again, and saw Jacob standing their gobsmacked; eyes wide, jaw dropped in disbelief. Even the wolves looked uncomfortable, one having took multiple steps backwards in shock.

"What…how? What? What?!" Jacob stuttered, giving me confirmation that they could see and hear the humanlike qualities I now allowed myself to possess.

I smiled, loving showing off my abilities, to those who actually could appreciate them.

"I have…talents. Abilities," I smiled.

Jacob raised his eyebrows and nodded slowly, "I figured. Holy shit."

"Yeah, you could say that," I grinned at him.

"Well, it might help a little, I guess. So people on the reservation don't freak out when they see a bloodsucker walk through their streets." He talked to himself, or to the wolves, I wasn't sure. At least, he wasn't talking to me.

"If I could interrupt," I raised my hand like a school kid as if to get attention. As I talked, I let my concentration go and returned to my normal stone cold self. "I have limitations. Something this extreme takes it out of me, and I gather you don't exactly want me hunting around your 'reservation'."

Jacob almost looked disappointed.

I sighed, "I might be able to keep the colouring of my skin for a few hours but nothing else. Would that still work? And besides, you were ready to let me in before you knew about my talents anyhow."

"Yeah, well. No one back there is going to be happy about that decision." He rubbed his temples, as if stressed.

"Well, then why did you make it? I get that I'm new or whatever, but that doesn't normally involve inviting your enemy back to your house. That's taking the 'keep your friends close, but your enemies closer' thing way too seriously."

Jacob and the wolf that growled at me earlier exchanged a look.

"That is something we will have to explain when we get back to the house."

I looked at his questioningly, but he just shook his head. _Okay then, cryptic much._

"Alright, lead the way then," I gestured for them to continue.

Immediately, the wolves all turned and ran off into the trees, not waiting for Jacob and I. I turned to Jacob to see if he would follow.

"Let's take a walk," he suggested. I shrugged again and walked forward beside Jacob.

We walked for a few minutes in silence. Jacob didn't appear to be leading at all, but I could smell the tracks of the other wolves, so I knew that we were heading in the right direction.

"So…" Jacob trailed off.

I raised my eyebrows pointedly. "So?"

He let out a nervous breath and looked down at the ground. "What do you know about us?"

"As in shape shifters? Not a whole lot to be honest. I know a thing or two about werewolves, but I've been told that you are nothing like that, except for the whole, you can turn into wolves thing."

"Right, yeah. You're not the first ones to get confused about it either. Almost everyone who joins that pack goes directly towards the myths about werewolves and the whole full moon thing. That's why we make such a big deal about calling ourselves, shape shifters."

"Fair enough, I would hate it if people called me Dracula. I mean, that myth is far from true; almost insulting actually."

"Exactly!"

We shared a quick smile before walking again in silence.

"So anyway," after a few minutes Jacob spoke again. "The reason why I ask is that I think you should understand a few things about our kind before you meet the rest of the pack."

I nodded and motioned for him to continue.

"Well, this is not usually something we tell outsiders but I can make an exception for this one case."

He then launched into a long, detailed tale about how their tribe began with spirit walkers and then they evolved into wolf shape shifters. He continued with the heartbreaking story of the third wife and the sacrifice she made for the protection of her tribe. Although Jacob spoke of the pale faces as evil and their arch-enemies, I took no offence. _We aren't all lollipops and rainbows after all. Some of us really deserve the name, bloodsucker._

"So, this third wife," I began after he appeared to have finished.

"You said she had some kind of bond with the shifter? What's that though? Like soul mates, kinda thing?" I pressed for more information. _Soul mates? Like our mates? I dont believe in either but really? Seems like some pretty serious bonding going on though._

"Kind of like soul mates. When one of the wolves, for the first time, looks in someone's eyes, they can feel this pull, this connection to that person. Like, instead of gravity holding them to the earth, it's now this one person. They are the sun in their lives. Everything they do, is for them."

"Wow, sounds…intense."

"It is. And it doesn't necessarily have to be romantic. The bond just requires us to be whatever the other person needs. A brother, a friend, or a lover. It doesn't matter; whatever it is. But its not like slavery or anything, which is why it's like soul mates. Genuine feelings are felt by both, nothing is forced, and all relationships formed are all completely natural. It's amazing actually…" He trailed off, as if in some kind of daze.

"Wow," I stared at him for a few seconds, before smirking. "You're jealous. You want it, don't you? But you haven't found the right person yet?"

He frowned at me. "No!" He defended. After a few seconds he continued.

"Well…is it that obvious?"

I just laughed, "No, you can relax. Just the way you described it, like someone yearning for something."

He frowned at me again, "I do not _yearn_."

I just laughed again. "Sure you don't, buddy."

"I do NOT yearn!" He shouted again.

I just continued to laugh. _Poor guy. I've bruised his ego._

"You're just too delicate." I teased.

"I am NOT DELICATE!" he shouted.

"Okay, okay, you're not delicate. And of course you do not _yearn," _I offered.

"That's right," he raised his chin proudly, pleased with himself. I just rolled my eyes.

"So, what were we talking about? Soul mates or something?"

"Right, yes. We don't call them soul mates. We call the process imprinting," he snapped right into business mode again, "or either person, their imprint; because the bond is like leaving a permanent mark upon the other person, only it's emotional." I nodded to show my understanding.

"So, why are you explaining this to me?"

"Well, we have a couple of people who have imprinted in our pack. Sam, my beta, has imprinted on Emily. When you see her, please don't stare, it's a long story for another time." I nodded again.

"And Quil's circumstance is strange, that's why we say the bond is being their for the other person, as whatever they need. Quil is a brother for Claire. You'll also understand that when we get to the house. Everything other couple we have had are just normal, boyfriend and girlfriend kind of situations, no complications. Until now, that is."

"I see…wait, what do you mean, til now?"

"You know how I said that we can communicate by reading each others minds? Well, we can also see through each others eyes, as long as you're concentrating on their mind, not your own. So, if any of us in the pack was to meet an imprint and look directly in their eyes, with the other wolf paying attention, they can imprint through them. Yeah, it's all very odd and complicated."

"That still didn't answer my question. What. Do. You. Mean. By. Until. Now?" I growled at him.

He hesitated for a moment. But with horrible timing as normal, we broke through the trees and entered a clearing with a small house in the centre. About nine teenagers or young adults, all well built and tanned, were sitting or standing by the back door.

"I mean, we are now facing our most complicated situation that we have ever known. I mean, you know us shifters and you vampires are natural enemies, destined to hate each other from since we first existed?"

"Well yeah, but whats that got to do with your imprinting business?"

Jacob hesitated again and looked over the boys by the house. I followed his stare and noticed the pattern of their positions. They all looked like they were guarding something, or preventing something from getting past.

"Wait…what are you saying exactly?" I whispered.

"Come on, you know what I'm saying…"

"Please…I need to hear it."

Jacob let out a breath and went to speak again, but was interrupted by someone who just walked out of the back door.

"I've imprinted…on you."

My eyes widened, other than noticing his attractiveness, my only thoughts I had were…

_Oh, because things couldn't have gotten any more complicated…_


End file.
